Magnetic Disc

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Anyone in this era who uses a computer is familiar with magnetic discs; they are where programmes and data are stored. Nowadays a disc with a storage capacity of several hundred gigabytes1 will fit into the palm of your hand.


Disc units used to be separate from the computer, housed in a box about the same size as a domestic washing machine. For example, the DEC3 VAX 11/780 mini computer used to run the first CAE4 Boeing 737 full-flight simulator at the British Airways training centre was equipped with a DEC RK07 disk unit stationed beside the computer.


An RK07 handled removable media of 14-inch platters5. Each disc-pack provided 28 megabytes of storage.


Now discs are buried inside computers with only a front-panel light and some noise to indicate their presence.

11 Gigabyte = 1,000 megabytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes2.2A byte is a digital datum represented by eight binary digits that can represent any value between 20 and 27.3Digital Equipment Corporation.4Canadian Air Electronics, a manufacturer of flight simulators with headquarters at Montreal, Canada; a company heavily subsidised by the Canadian government.5These are the swank-cans you see wielded in the brochures by the bimbo who doesn't know a disc from a flying saucer.

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