Fast forward to 1980, when IBM introduced a drive (the disk storage unit moniker had been dropped by then) that could store more than 1GB of data (it actually held 2.52). It weighed 550 pounds and cost between $81,00 and $142,000. Since that time, platter-based hard drives have just been getting smaller and cheaper. Instead of lining the walls of data centers with hard drive cabinets, we have server racks and RAID arrays.