Post by @TechTangents@dialup.space

2026-05-08 23:57 UTC

RAM was so cheap it was free! (with purchase of 30GB HDD) It's somewhat interesting how computers have evolved from this time. 1000X more RAM to have 32GB isn't that uncommon. But 1000X HDD space to have 30TB is relatively rare. Online media has definitely played a part, but I think general "do everything" usage of computers for normal people has massively dropped off as well making large storage needs much more niche.

Replies (2)

@TechTangents@dialup.space 2026-05-09 00:01

I'm not sure how true this was everywhere else, but here in Arizona if you left your CDs in one of these in your car in the summer, the PVC sleeves would bond to the disc and rip off the data layer when you try to pull them out. Even if that didn't happen, you know you were never putting them all back in the jewel cases and ain't no one got time to go flipping through these at goodwill. So they're all just trash now.

Open ##2552693
@Natanox@chaos.social 2026-05-09 00:13

@TechTangents@dialup.space It probably also has to do with bandwidth limitations. There was a complete technology switch for disk drives since then; A 30TB HDD is only so useful since it takes so long to access all of it. Meanwhile SSDs took a while to become mainstream and affordable with sufficient disk space, but are quick enough to run modern tasks and t̶r̶a̶c̶k̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶p̶y̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶f̶t̶w̶a̶r̶e̶s̶l̶o̶p̶ web engines. Meanwhile RAM got both better and bigger in one straight line.

Open ##2552709