I just got a 256 GB thumb drive with dual USB A and USB C ports. After allowing for ½" for the USB A port and ⅜" for the USB C port that leaves ½" for storing 256 GB of data. Then I remember the 256 GB drive array I had on a TI990 mini computer I managed. There were three drive stands each about 3½ feet square and high. Two of the drives had 100 GB disk packs consisting of five or six 24" diameter platters and the third a 50 GB pack with only three 24" platters. The disk packs were in hermetically sealed plexiglass enclosures and required annual cleaning and refurbishment. Once, when spinning up one of the 100 GB packs after it had returned from its annual cleaning, the read/write head apparently fluttered, contacted the rotating disk surface, and the entire disk pack exploded into flying chunks that shattered the enclosing plexiglass dome and embedded themselves into the walls of the room and the TI990. The three of us in the computer room were deafened by the unholy screech and explosive crash but miraculously escaped injury from the flying shrapnel. Today I hold the equivalent of that entire $200,000+ array between two fingers and hope I won't drop it because it could be hard to find and wonder what my grandsons will see in their lifetimes. God I love technology!
