In the mid-1990s, personal computer storage was rapidly evolving. Hard disk drives (HDDs), which stored data on quickly rotating platters, were becoming more affordable and capacious. In 1997 specifically, average HDD capacities were increasing significantly from the previous year, though still dwarfed by today’s standards.
This article will examine the typical sizes of desktop computer hard disk drives in 1997, analyzing the average capacity, factors influencing size, price trends, major manufacturers, and popular models. We’ll also look at the growth trajectory and impact that HDD capacities at the time had on personal computing.
Typical Desktop Hard Drives
In 1997, typical desktop hard drive sizes ranged from 1-8 GB. While larger drives were available, they were still considered high-end and expensive for the average consumer.
Many consumer desktop PCs shipped with hard drives in the 1-2 GB range. For example, a 1997 Compaq Presario shipped with a standard 1.2 GB hard drive according to EveryMac.
Higher-end home and business desktops might come equipped with hard drives from 4-8 GB. For instance, the Apple Power Macintosh 9600 had up to an 8 GB hard drive option according to EveryMac.
Overall, while much larger hard drives were technically available in 1997, average consumer desktop PCs typically came with drives in the 1-2 GB range.
Average Size
In 1997, the average capacity of hard disk drives (HDDs) was approximately 2.2 GB for desktop computers, according to an analysis by Dataquest. This was nearly double the average capacity of 1.2 GB in 1996 (Source). The rapid growth in HDD sizes during the mid-1990s was enabled by advancements in areal density, allowing more data to be stored on the magnetic platters within the same physical space.
Specifically looking at desktop HDDs, average capacities ranged from around 500 MB on the low end to 4 GB on the high end in 1997. Popular desktop HDD models included the Western Digital Caviar AC2540 with 2.5 GB capacity and the IBM Deskstar 16GP with 4.3 GB (Source). However, most average consumer desktop PCs utilized HDDs in the 1-2 GB range.
Overall, HDD sizes grew substantially during this period, as 1 GB drives were considered high capacity just a couple years prior in 1995. The growth paved the way for new applications with larger storage needs like digital video editing and multimedia content.
Factors Influencing Size
In 1997, hard drive sizes were still quite small by today’s standards. The maximum capacity for desktop hard drives at that time was around 10GB.
There were several factors that limited hard drive size in the mid-1990s:
- Manufacturing technology – The ability to pack more data onto a disk platter was constrained by the precision of read/write heads and the density of magnetic particles on the disk surface. Manufacturing methods had not yet evolved to support extremely high areal densities.
- Materials – Hard drive platters were made of aluminum or ceramic rather than glass. This limited how closely data tracks could be spaced.
- Interface – Most hard drives still used IDE/PATA interfaces which had bandwidth limitations compared to later interfaces like SATA. This restricted the amount of data transfer possible.
- Price – Larger capacity hard drives were still very expensive in 1997, often hundreds of dollars per gigabyte. Average consumers could not afford large drives.
- Demand – Applications and operating systems did not require huge amounts of disk space yet, so average consumer demand favored smaller, cheaper hard drives.
These limitations in technology and cost kept capacities relatively small compared to the multi-terabyte hard drives common today. Most home and office computers in 1997 still functioned fine with hard drives under 10 GB.
Price Per Megabyte
In 1997, the price per megabyte for hard disk drives was quite high compared to today’s standards. According to Disk Drive Prices 1955+ – John C. McCallum, in January 1997 the price per megabyte was $0.138. By October of that same year, it had dropped slightly to $0.128 per megabyte. To put that in perspective, a 1 gigabyte (1,024 megabytes) hard drive would have cost around $141 in early 1997. Contrast that to prices today, where 1 terabyte (1,024 gigabytes) hard drives can readily be purchased for under $50, equating to a cost of around 5 cents per gigabyte.
As the analysis by Notebooks.com shows, the plunge in storage costs per megabyte since the late 1990s has been dramatic. While 1997 saw typical costs over 10 cents per megabyte, by 2010 the average cost was down to around 10 cents per gigabyte (or 0.01 cents per megabyte) – a hundred-fold reduction in just over a decade. This made storage far more affordable and helped drive the adoption of larger hard drives in both desktops and laptops.
Major Manufacturers
In 1997, the hard drive industry was dominated by a few major manufacturers. These included:
- Seagate – Founded in 1979, Seagate was one of the largest hard drive makers during the 1990s. According to Wikipedia, Seagate held over 30% market share of the HDD market in 1997.
- Western Digital – Founded in 1970, Western Digital was another leading hard drive manufacturer in the 1990s. The company produced a variety of hard drive models in different sizes.
- IBM – Although better known for its computers and IT services, IBM had a major hard drive division called IBM HDD that accounted for over 16% of the market in 1997.
- Fujitsu – The Japanese technology conglomerate produced a range of hard disk drives under brands like Fujitsu and Fujitsu Siemens.
- Hitachi – Hitachi’s storage division manufactured high capacity enterprise-class hard drives during the mid to late 1990s.
Other notable hard drive makers at the time included Maxtor, Samsung, Toshiba, and Quantum.
Popular Models
In 1997, some of the most popular hard drive models included the Quantum Fireball, IBM Deskstar, and Seagate Cheetah. The Quantum Fireball line offered sizes up to 6.4GB, while the IBM Deskstar drives went up to 4.3GB. Seagate’s Cheetah drives were notable for their high performance, topping out at 4.55GB.
Western Digital was another major player that year, with their Caviar drives offering capacities up to 5.1GB. Fujitsu was also popular with their MPE and MPG lines reaching 6.4GB. Overall, many manufacturers were competing fiercely to increase capacities and performance.
Size Growth
Hard drive sizes grew rapidly during the 1990s as new technologies allowed for greater storage capacities. In 1990, typical hard disk drives for desktop PCs had storage capacities between 20-100MB. By 1994, drive capacities reached 500-750MB as higher density platters became available. In 1997, the typical new hard drive size was 1-2GB, with some drives reaching as high as 8GB.
According to the History of Hard Disk Drives, capacity grew at a rate of about 60% per year during the early-to-mid 1990s. This growth was fueled by the transition from older technologies like MFM and RLL to higher density PRML and EPRML encoding schemes. Also contributing to larger capacities were the shifts from older materials like oxide coatings to newer thin-film coatings on aluminum or glass platters.
Impact on Computing
The small hard drive sizes in the 1990s significantly affected how people used computers. With average sizes around 1-2GB, there was limited space to store programs and files. This meant users had to be selective about what they installed and often delete content to free up room on the drive. Source
Having to constantly manage disk space made computing more difficult for the average user. It also constrained software developers, who had to design programs to fit within these tiny hard drive footprints. Some even shipped software across multiple floppy disks due to the hard drive size limitations.
The small sizes also impacted emerging technologies like multimedia and gaming. It was challenging to store and run multimedia and graphics-intensive programs off the average hard drive. This hampered adoption and advancement of these technologies until larger drives became affordable. Overall, the cramped hard drive capacities of the 1990s significantly affected how people used and thought about computers during that era.
Conclusion
In summary, hard drive sizes were quite small in the 1990s compared to today. In 1997, the average desktop hard drive was around 2-4GB, with some higher end models reaching up to 8GB. This pales in comparison to modern drives that can store terabytes of data. The exponential growth in hard drive capacity over the past few decades has had a major impact on computing and how we store digital information. In the 1990s, storing even a few gigabytes of data was a significant task. Now, we can carry terabytes of data in our pockets. Hard drives have come an incredibly long way since the 1990s, enabling the digital revolutions of storing music, photos, video, and more.
