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Data Storage, 1970 vs. 2015 Figure 1 shows a small part of the Social Security A

ID: 3701455 • Letter: D

Question

Data Storage, 1970 vs. 2015 Figure 1 shows a small part of the Social Security Administration's data archive in 1970. Figure 2 shows a 2015 advertisement for a data storage device. Let's see how the cost of storage has changed in 45 years. 1) Based on the information in the caption, calculate the total number of bytes of information stored on all tapes in the SSA archive. Assume that each "magnetized spot" stores one "bit" of information and that one byte is 8 bits. 2) If the cost of one magnetic tape in 1970 was $40, calculate the cost per megabyte for this storage (not counting tape drives, warehousing and labor costs). Assume one megabyte 1,000,000 bytes. 3) Repeat the calculations for the 2015 hard drive and enter your results in the table below. The master file ...A worker people who hold or have held Social Security c tape in the computer numbers. Each capable of recording a maxi ry of the Social Security Administration in mum of 1,600 magnetized spots to the inch and Baltimore, Maryland. The tapes will go into one stretching 2,400 feet, the agency's 170,000 tapes ???: 200 200 b 70,000 x of the daily computer runs that cakculate pay ments and keep up records on the 193,000,000 make up one of of computerized information. you,ood Figure 1 1970 (warehouse) 2015 (hard drive) 4999 List price $6900 You save S Toshiba 1tb usb 3.0p external hard drive wi backup software Total bytes of storage 4millor Cost per megabyte Finally, compare the results for 1970 and 2015. What is the ratio of the cost per megabyte in 1970 to that in 2015? ?(28) Free shipping Free store pickup today References: Figure 1: National Geographic, November, 1970 Figure 2: Walmart.com, August 30, 2015 Figure 2

Explanation / Answer

Case 1970:

Given a Megabyte = 1,000,000 bytes

each magnetized spot stores one bit of information. so 8 spots can store a byte.

Given one inch of tape contains 1600 magnetized spots and the length of such tape is 2400 feet.

so each tape is of length 28800 inches, which can store 1600*28800 bits of information which is 46,080,000 bits of information.

46,080,000 bits= 5,760,000 bytes

5,760,000 bytes= 5.76 Megabytes

there are 1,70,000 tapes. So total of 1,70,000*5.76 = 9,79,200 Megabytes of storage it will take

for storing 1 Megabyte of data $40 were required. For storing 9,79,200 Megabytes it costs $3,91,68,000

Case 2015:

The capcity of the hard drive is 1TB. which is equvivalent to 1,000,000 MB which is equvalent to 1,000,000*106 bytes

so it costs $49.99.

so per Megabyte it costs 1,000,000/49.99= 0.000004699$

Ratio of cost per megabye in 1970 to that in 2015

40/0.000004699 = 8,51,244.945