In this interview, we speak to Rainer Werner Kaese of Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH about the fascinating evolution of hard disk drives and storage technologies

Can you tell us about how storage capacities have grown over the years?
Absolutely. The journey of hard disk drives, or HDDs, is quite remarkable. We began with storage capacities measured in megabytes and gigabytes back in the 80s. Early 80s IBM PCs, for example, came with HDDs of about 20 megabytes. Then in the 2000s, we saw portable devices using HDDs, given flash memory wasn’t yet affordable.

Could you share an example of such a portable device?
Sure! One noteworthy instance is the first-generation iPod, which launched in 2001 and used a Toshiba hard disk drive. This device could store 5GB, translating to around a thousand songs—a dream come true for Steve Jobs.

That’s quite impressive! And what about the evolution to even larger storage capacities?
Indeed. Nowadays, we showcase HDDs with capacities of up to 24 terabytes. Also, we shouldn’t forget about the world’s smallest HDD Toshiba launched in 2004. Measuring just 0.85 inches, it holds a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Back then, it was used in the Nokia N91 music phone, which could store 4GB of music on a tiny drive.

It’s fascinating to learn how compact and large storage solutions have come about. But given flash memory’s rise, how are HDDs relevant today?
Good question. While many portable devices have moved to flash storage due to its scalability and reliability, HDDs are still essential for large data storage. For example, those 80,000 photos you think are on your mobile phone? They’re mostly thumbnails, stored on cloud servers using high-capacity Toshiba HDDs. This is how we manage and store large amounts of data efficiently.