IBM manages to store 330 TB (330,000 GB) of data on a small magnetic tape.

It's amazing how technology goes to giant steps, achieving extraordinary results that have a great impact on our daily lives. More than 6 decades ago we have seen how storage devices, computers and other electronic devices have evolved. We have gone from 5MB of capacity used for example in the IBM 360, computer with more than one ton of weight, to be able to store 330 TB. It seems crazy but it is totally a reality.

IBM scientists have again achieved something historic, this time in terms of storage. The company announced that its research group has been able to store 330 terabytes of uncompressed data in a small magnetic tape cartridge that fits even in the palm of the hand.

The amount of data stored on this small magnetic tape (330 TB) is equivalent to 330 million digital books, a surprising amount of information thanks to the collaboration between IBM and Sony takes this storage technology to another level that exceeds 20 Times the density of conventional tapes still used in industry.

"This makes the technology very practical for cold storage in the cloud," explained Evangelos Eleftheriou of IBM. This was not an easy feat. In order to reach 201GB per square inch, IBM researchers developed several new technologies.

According to IBM, this new milestone demonstrates that it is feasible to continue expanding storage on tape drives for at least another decade. Which indicates that we are not far from achieving store in PB (PetaByte) and even reach EB (Exabyte).