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10 petabytes - visualized

blog.backblaze.com

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Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#3
Is there any reason why 10 PB was split in that particular combination of 2, 1.5 and 1TB drives?

EDIT: And, just a comparison: Google processes over 20PB of data per day!

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#4
post #3

Is there any reason why 10 PB was split in that particular combination of 2, 1.5 and 1TB drives? EDIT: And, just a comparison: Google processes over 20PB of data per day!

It looks like that is their actual inventory of drives. At that scale, when 2TB drives become the most economical to buy that does not mean one immediately dives in and replaces all the 1.5TB drives. You have to do a bit more math than that.

It's also hard to tell whether they're actively decommissioning their 1TB drives or if they've just on a growth curve and they've done significantly more business while 1.5TB and 2TB drives were the more economical choice, but sooner or later the cost/benefit curves do cross and you do want to start decommissioning the smaller drives, it's only a matter of time.

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#5
I am not american, nor do we use inches here in germany but when looking at #3 it should be noted that 5.75 inches is actually the drive length, not height as they state. Well depends on how you look at it but it confused me in the beginning.

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#6
I'll give you a much more compact way to envision 10 Pb:

10 Petabytes is 10,000,000,000,000,000 bytes or 80,000,000,000,000,000 bits, divided by 8,000,000,000 bits per full human genome (2 bits per base-pair) that's about 10,000,000 cells (not red blood cells because they don't contain DNA), or about 5 milliliters! (10 um diameter on average so about 500 cubic um, so 2 million or so per ml), and that includes all the stuff besides the DNA in the cells.

Hard disk storage certainly is impressively compact but it still has a long way to go before we beat mother nature.

-1 already eh? Downmodders please correct my math or say what you think is wrong with the comparison, I note the article ends on: "How would you visualize ten petabytes of storage?".

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#7
My 350GB of music is backed up on Backblaze (a wonderful service), but seeing those visualizations reminded me of the environmental impact of my digital packratting. That's a sizable data center keeping my data happy and backed up.

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#8
post #3

Is there any reason why 10 PB was split in that particular combination of 2, 1.5 and 1TB drives? EDIT: And, just a comparison: Google processes over 20PB of data per day!

There's a big difference between "storage" and "processing". But it's true, Google stores plenty of data too.

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#9
post #6

I'll give you a much more compact way to envision 10 Pb: 10 Petabytes is 10,000,000,000,000,000 bytes or 80,000,000,000,000,000 bits, divided by 8,000,000,000 bits per full human genome (2 bits per base-pair) that's about 10,000,000 cells (not red blood cells because they don't contain DNA), or about 5 milliliters! (10 um diameter on average so about 500 cubic um, so 2 million or so per ml), and that includes all the…

[deleted]

Re: 10 petabytes - visualized

#10
post #6

I'll give you a much more compact way to envision 10 Pb: 10 Petabytes is 10,000,000,000,000,000 bytes or 80,000,000,000,000,000 bits, divided by 8,000,000,000 bits per full human genome (2 bits per base-pair) that's about 10,000,000 cells (not red blood cells because they don't contain DNA), or about 5 milliliters! (10 um diameter on average so about 500 cubic um, so 2 million or so per ml), and that includes all the…

First off, I didn't downvote you. However, the comparison is wrong imho because disk storage is not simply about storing information. Disks also need fast read/write access, which DNA certainly doesn't have for us (for now?).
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