I just thought up a pointless geek meme: count and add up the capacity of every hard drive in every computer in the house…all the desktop and laptop systems you have around that are being used at least weekly. Then share the size of the hard drive in the first thusly-equipped personal computing device you ever owned.
We’re at 466GB here, but I’m sure that’s paltry compared to some of the server farms out there in Constant Reader Land, seeing how half of you are twice as geeky as I am.
My first HD-equipped PC was a 486 DX/2-50 with a 210MB SCSI HD, back when games came on a few floppies at best. (”Two hundred megabytes! I’ll never run out of space again!”)
34 Comments
March 11, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Currently … 1.2 TB. First one ever? 286. 8Mhz (if you pressed the “Turbo” switch, it was 12Mhz!). 20MB hard drive. 2400 baud. I used to write stupid QBasic programs and play some of those primitive D&D games on it – Pool of Radiance, Secret of the Silver Blades. My father paid $2200 for the thing, I still bring it up.
Now my Blackberry runs faster.
March 11, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I’m at 970GB: one laptop with 120MB internally and 280GB externally (backup and mass storage) and one desktop with 250GB internally and 320GB externally.
My first HD-equipped computer was a PC-XT clone with a 5.25″ full-height 10MB hard disk. Oh, the joys of not having to swap out two 5.25″ floppies all the time!
March 11, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I haven’t unpacked much in the way of laptops or Macs, but VFTP Command Central (aka “Supernaut”), a 2.4GHz P4, has a 100GB drive.
My first computer that had a hard drive was a 4.77MHz with a 10MB full-height hard drive.
March 11, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Total hdd space around Casa de Pappy right now about 300GB, down quite a bit from a few months ago.
First computer was a IBM 286 with a 20MB hdd. First laptop was a Zenith 286 (weighed about 16-17 pounds but had a built in carrying handle and power supply so no case was needed) with a HUGE 10MB hdd. It ran Microsoft Works 1.1 and I can’t remember the com software but had a built in 1200 baud modem. It was sweet.
March 11, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Right now we’re sitting at about 750GB. My first HD was the Apple ProFile 10MB behemoth attached to an Apple ][ Plus. Heady days, indeed!
March 11, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Let’s see, counting my NAS device and the HD in my first computer (Performa 5215CD), I’m at 1331 GB (yes, that’s over a TB).
I have FAR more storage than I know what to do with. I won’t need more for a good long time, unless I begin storing and streaming HD video.
March 11, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Do we count spares? 280 GB without, something over 500GB with. First ‘puter was a 486Dx2-66 with an 80Mb Hdd and a full 1Mb of RAM (4 x 256k)
March 11, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I’m at 420 GB. My first HD equipped computer was an ‘83 Kaypro II that I hacked up with a 47 MB HD, an external color monitor and 4 800KB FDs, overclocked to a blazing 10 MHz. “Darth Vader Lunch box” indeed.
March 11, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Just at home (my colo and datacenter stuff would obviously be unfair) I’ve got 9tb in active machines and/or appliances.
I’ve also got another 5tb sitting in boxes as spare parts.
My first HDD was a 20mb full height full width, in a PC-XT, some time in the mid 80s.
March 11, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Oh I should note, the XT wasn’t mine; it was family. The first one I personally owned was a KayPro 2000, with a 40mb drive.
March 11, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I don’t know about the whole house, but I’ve got 1.5TB in my desktop machine. Though a goodly portion of that is dedicated to backing up files for all the other machines in the house. So I wouldn’t guess I’ve got more than 2.25, 2.5 TB in machines that are actually powered up. Might hit 3TB if I count all the disks that are sitting stationary right now.
First computer with a hard drive was actually my father’s, a HeathKit Z-80 based machine that we wedged a 10MB drive into. Bloody expensive piece of kit it was too, at about $1000. Had a 150 baud acoustic coupler modem.I wrote programs in BASIC on it. Fortunately, I got over the institutional scarring, and learned good programming habits later in life.
March 12, 2008 at 12:41 am
If you add up all the HDs in the house, it’s probably over a terabyte. I think my first PC, equipped with a (then) greased bolt ‘o lightning AMD K6 at 333MHz, had a 500MB HD, if I remember correctly.
March 12, 2008 at 12:47 am
Actually, thinking back, it was probably closer to 200/250MBs.
March 12, 2008 at 1:06 am
I don’t remember what the first computer we had ran on – it was my dad’s, it was an old Apple, and it was fun to play little games (consisting of alphanumeric characters on a screen that you moved around with the directional keys), but not much good for anything else. Then again, I was 6. What did I know?
The first computer I used was a 256K RAM computer with MAYBE 20GB of disc space. We had AOL. That was enough for me.
Now…laptop has 100GB, External drive has 250GB, and desktop has 360GB. I’m going to get a 500GB external drive soon, just for photographs, because holy crap I’m running out of space.
March 12, 2008 at 6:54 am
Heck, 99% of the population doesn’t even question why their hard drive is called “C”.
March 12, 2008 at 8:12 am
Quite slight. Including an external drive, barely 500GB on three computers. But, hey, even the XServe at the Patch Factory only has 750GB.
My first… No-name PC-XT clone (that’s an 8086 processor), 640K RAM, dual 5.25 floppies (double-sided!), 10MB HDD.
Oh! And a 300baud modem. Imagine my thrill when I upgraded to 1200. Speed demon!
M
March 12, 2008 at 8:22 am
I won’t bother counting up the drive capacity in my house due to the three servers and external fiber array (it’s in the terabytes), but my first PC was a Zenith PC-XT with an upgrade to the NEC V20 processor running at an earth scorching 10MHz. It had a 10MB removable Syquest “hard drive” and single 5/25″ floppy drive.
An offshoot to this post would be to add up the total capacity of the FLASH drives currently on your person and compare THAT to the total disk capacity of your first computer. I have 12GB in my pocket at the moment…add another 2GB for the SD card in my laptop and another 4GB for the digital camera sitting on the desk.
March 12, 2008 at 9:20 am
My first was a Mac Performa, can’t remember which one, based on the ‘pizza box’ LC of the time. 2mb memory, and a whopping 80mb HD. F*&ing thing cost me $1500+ at the time. I remember playing Where in the world is Carmen Dan Diego with my girlfriend’s daughter on it.
March 12, 2008 at 9:59 am
Current Household Total = 1.81Tb
1st HDD was on a 286 Epson Equity II. A massive 20Mb.
It had a color monitor too! The color was “Amber”.
AdN
March 12, 2008 at 10:02 am
Currently 750GB for my single computer.
My first computer didn’t have a HD, it had audio tape so about 300KB.
March 12, 2008 at 10:14 am
First, an Apple II upgraded to 64K RAM with 3 external single-sided 5.25″ floppy drives (140K each) then an IBM-XT with 10MB, which seemed huge at a time when 64K programs were the norm. Currently using about 300GB; more than enough so far.
March 12, 2008 at 10:19 am
“My first HD-equipped PC was a 486 DX/2-50 with a 210MB SCSI HD”
Wow. I had a very similar machine. I opted for the 550MB hard drive, and paid an obscene amount of money extra for 8 megs of RAM rather than the (at the time) industry standard of 4…
System had both 3.5″ and 5ΒΌ” floppy drives, a CD-ROM drive (4X, that was $400 extra with the sound card), and a 14″ color monitor that didn’t last the year.
Total cost of the system? $2,600 including B&W HP printer.
That’s in 1994 dollars, too…
March 12, 2008 at 11:39 am
1.5TB, 1 lappy and 1 desktop. First computer was an Apple II+. No HDD, it got its data from two 5.25 floppy drives. It could also load applications from an attached cassette tape drive.
March 12, 2008 at 12:04 pm
My first computer was called a Digi-Comp and it was mechanical . It output zero though seven in binary was programmed with little plastic tubes stuck on pegs. My first electronic computer was a Timex-Sinclair TS1000 with 2K of ram. There was a 16K expansion pack and printer that produced purple ink cash register type print outs. I used the printer one time — to make a receipt to get a refund when I’d lost the original.
March 12, 2008 at 1:49 pm
A little over 2.5TB mostly in a big USB rack.
My first ‘puter was a TI-99/4a that I added a cassette tape to.
March 12, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I think a tad over 2 TB for total storage drives, not including flash (flash drives and cards we’re probably closer to 3)
My first was a Mac LCII with an 80 GB HDD. It didn’t take long to fill it…..
March 12, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Currently 1.2T on an iMac and a MacBook Pro with three external USB drives.
My first hard drive was a 60MB add-in for my Amiga 2000.
March 12, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Stopped counting after 2.5Tb. Blown 1.5Tb in external drives in about the last 18 months…. *cringe* I don’t think they like my throughput…
First hard drive was a Tidbit 20Mb that I’d salvaged from a bin – the owner said it wasn’t working, so I warmed it up a bit (deep midwinter) and it span fine in my Amiga 1200
March 12, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Currently only 425Mb in two notebooks (one’s the wife’s and one’s a company machine) and one archaic Pentium III, 1Ghz machine…which is why I’m working on buying a new computer…
My first HD equipped machine was a Packard Bell featuring the Intel 80386, 16Mhz processor and a 20Mb hard drive. I eventually upgraded that machine to a 250Mb hard drive which I purchased for the bargain basement price of $1 per megabyte and reveled in how inexpensive hard drive space had become.
Now I’m going to date myself: My very first exposure to the magical world of computers was the Timex Sinclair 1000. Based on the Zilog Z80 processor, it ran at a blistering 3.25Mhz, featured a full 2Kb of RAM, a black and white video system that provided RF output for display on a TV set and accommodated the connection of a standard audio cassette recorder for data storage. It was an awesome machine.
March 12, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I just skimmed the comments before posting my own. I just noticed someone above who also had a TS1000 but even beat that with a mechanical computer prior to that.
My hat’s off to you…now that’s REALLY getting in on the ground floor.
March 12, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I got my geek properly on today at Bletchley Park – I had the honor of giving a talk on 3D animation and teaching it there. Stood on the spot where the world’s first Proper Electronic Computer sat chewing on Shark transcripts, and breathed the indescribable scent of Old Computer Doing Good, stood beside the newly-rebuilt Colossus Mk II.
It was emotional.
March 12, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Around here, we’ve got 720GB on three PC’s. (I guess you could throw in 10 more with the memory cards and thumb drives laying around.)
My first computer was a Packard Bell, with a “more than I’ll ever need” 1.3GB drive. (I now carry 4GB in my pocket!) Ah, those were the days!
March 13, 2008 at 11:53 am
Lessee…250GB in my desktop. Another 1750GB in external USB and network drives. 40 each in three kids’ PCs. So that’s 2160GB. If you count a modded X-Box, that’s another 300GB.
My first HD-equipped PC was a Compaq 486DX-33, with a 20MB hard drive. It was my third computer. The first was a TRS-80 Model III, with two 5.25″ floppy drives and 64K of RAM. The second was an Amstrad IBM-PC “compatible” computer–not a “clone”. I don’t remember the specs on it, but it had both 5.25″ and 3.5″ floppy drives, and the easily accessed (and empty) expansion slots gave me a convenient place to hide contraband in my boarding school dorm room.
March 20, 2008 at 9:26 am
Well – I have a list
Total GB 2820; Main desktop: 160GB and 300GB, Second Desktop 80 GB, 4 external HDs totaling 1820GB, 250 GB in modded Xbox, 120 GB in Xbox 360, 20 GB in PS3, 60 GB in 3rd desktop, 10 GB in misc embedded computer projects, 100 GB in uninstalled hard drives, 20 GB in carputer, and I think thats it. I think.
My first computer was a TI99/4a from Texas Instruments. My first hard drive based computer was a DTK Clone running at 8 MHz. The drive was one of the old full height Rodime 5MB drives. Godawfully loud. Fun stuff.