How big was your 1st hard drive...

Page 7 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
27,286
16,123
136
5 MEG (yes meg) Shugart with an MFM controller card. about 1985.
 

gamefreakgcb

Platinum Member
Sep 2, 2004
2,354
0
76
in 1995 a 300MB HD with a 33MHz proc and 4 MB Ram and no viedo card(onboard vid card which was not even capable of playing a video file) or modem and win 3.11 which later was upgraded to win95 (slow as hell, now look at the config I have.)
 

knightc2

Golden Member
Jul 2, 2001
1,461
0
0
The 1st drive I personally owned was a 105MB Maxtor that came in my Amiga 3000. It was huge at the time.
 

Eos

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2000
3,463
17
81
It was a 600mb unit in a 4x86 back in 1996. I used that computer until 2000 when I bought another computer with a 30gb. I paid $65 for a 16mb RAM chip on that first computer. Christ, things were expensive back then.
 

imported_RedStar

Senior member
Mar 6, 2005
526
0
0
i still have a working tandy 1000! :)

i remember the prediction that large hard drives would lead to sloppy programming and games would balloon in size. At the time, 9 meg games already seemed so large...so many 5 1/4 floppies...


And here we are now...where games can be 3+ GIG! :)

i can't actually remember the size of the HDD on the 286.. i think 20 MB ..maybe 40.

edit: hopefully, in my lifetime, we will revist this thread saying how incredibly small 750 gig raid setups were so tiny. Afterall, we will have the holodeck! :)
 

bwatson283

Golden Member
Jul 16, 2006
1,062
0
0
20mb or so in the 486DX2 66.....if i remember correctly. Windows 3.11 :) and dos 6... Ya, i think that was it.
 

Philippine Mango

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2004
5,594
0
0
For the first computer that I owned was a 2Gb HDD in my laptop, but for our family computer it was either the 8088 we still have which is 15MB or what ever sized HDD came in our older IBM 486, ATI Mach64 graphics card.
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
My first was a 20MB drive, also. I don't even remember which brand it was. Maybe a Carver? I had a 100MB Seagate, later, but I can't remember what brand the 20MB was.
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
Originally posted by: OSX
1 GB for a 486 mid 90's.
Haha, I still remember seeing a 1GB hard drive somewhere, around 1992 or 93, and thinking "Who would ever need that much space?" Now, I put a 320GB drive in my new build, and will be adding another just like it, soon.
 

djnsmith7

Platinum Member
Apr 13, 2004
2,612
1
0
Unfortunately, I was one of the poor unfortunate souls that bought a Packard Bell (yes, I know, I was 19). I had the system for a week, then returned it for a full refund after my 540MB drive crashed. Talk about a blessing in disguise. That was a 486 machine.
 

Missing Ghost

Senior member
Oct 31, 2005
254
0
76
My first one was a 270MB, than a 1GB, than a 30GB. But that was in my parent's computer. The first that was mine was a 120GB. Than I bought a few 36GBs, a few 250GBs and got them all filled. I need more! I could fill 10TB in a few days.
 

mleonard

Member
Jul 17, 2006
71
0
0
10MB in a second hand 8086....then
???MB in a Packard Bell 386sx 33mhz... then
40MB in a 486DX2 66mhz...

Most interesting HD was a 10MB or 100MB that slid into an ISA slot.

Biggest HD, a friend got 2 huge 350MB 3U SCSI drives second hand from a buisness upgrading in the days when everyone else had 60MB drives. They had 8" platters and were loud.
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
Originally posted by: RedStar
And here we are now...where games can be 3+ GIG! :)

i can't actually remember the size of the HDD on the 286.. i think 20 MB ..maybe 40.

edit: hopefully, in my lifetime, we will revist this thread saying how incredibly small 750 gig raid setups were so tiny. Afterall, we will have the holodeck! :)
I have one game that is >9.5GB, and another that is >4.5GB.