IBM Developing World's Largest Data Drive

Big Blue's working on the biggest storage drive ever made.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Researchers at IBM are on the verge on completing the largest data drive ever built. Made up of 200,000 hard drives, the drive will be able to hold 120 petabytes which is equal to 120 gigabytes, or 24 billion MP3s. IBM is prepping the drive with a number of technologies to ensure the safety of the data such as a back-up mechanism that slowly moves data from failing platters to replacement platters so there's no hiccups on performance. A system called GFPS spreads data across multiple disks and allows the drive to read and write different parts of a file at the same time. IBM's director of storage, Bruce Hillsberg predicts such a system will be used in all cloud computing systems. Big news, that. 

[MIT Technology Review via Engadget]

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