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Punch cards can be considered as the first data storage devices for backup. They date back to the early 1950’s, being used as a medium for storage for the UNIVAC I.

Next came the Magnetic Tapes. Since one roll of magnetic tape could store as much data as 10,000 punch cards, it achieved instant success and became the most popular way of storing of computer data until the mid 1980s.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s hard drives were not suitable for backups because of their high price, large size and low capacity. However, already in the mid 1980s hard disks could already be considered for making backups. In the early 1990s they became a real alternative for tape backups. Even today, the “battle” between tape and disk backup still rages on.

In the early 1990’s CD-R were not commonly used for backups, because of high costs. But later, when CD-ROM drive became a usual device for practically every computer and prices for compact disks tangibly fell, backup on CD became very popular and widespread. CDs practically pushed away floppies by the beginning of new millennium. Introduction of DVD with about 4GB capacity after 1995 has only strengthened this trend.

Portable USB storage flash drives, invented in 1998, are rather new to the world of data backup, but they have already become very popular.

Blu-laser discs using organic dyes, such as the Sony Blu-ray format (between 23GB and 54GB) and Toshiba’s HD-DVD are the next step to further reduction of the cost of removable media along with capacity growth and improvement of usability. They appeared on the market in 2006 and are already considered as promising devices for data backup.

Backup History