The History of Personal Storage Mbs > Gbs > TBs

As a teenager I messed about with cassette tapes on Sinclair ZX Spectrum and BBC micro storing roughly 617kb on one side of a C90 cassette. In those days you often types the raw code out by hand from magazines. Not very realistic when games have 3million lines of code to type (ref). Tapes and paper cards were used in mainframes until IBM's Alan Shugart and David Noble invented the floppy. The floppy disk came to the home market in the 80s. In 1989  I was introduced to a few 5.25" floppys on pre-windows machines at work (this was a Sony design, introduced in 1982) but the world quickly moved to the 720kb "double density" 3.5" disk which could store what seemed like a respectable 1.44mb (2.88mb at the end of its life). I built up several hundred of these fragile disks as some installations came 20-30 disks! Just swapping between them was a pain and why did not one invent the multidisk reader? Seems everyone was happy loading one at a time.

The 1.44mb floppy sold millions (make that hundred of millions) and never quite died (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8646699.stm) but imagine having instead of that 16gb USB stick you had on 11,700 floppys instead. In fact, what would a hard drive of floppys look like? A modest 1.5 terabyte desktop hard drive (cost now about £100) would be about a million floppies or a solid cube of 3.5metres in size and weighing about 15,700kg (15.7 metric tonnes)!

Then in about 1995 iomega's Zip arrived  with capacities of 100mb (later versions increased what seemed like an amazing 250 MB then 750 MB). These were great when they worked but a "little unreliable" and a few times I lost a whole disk of data with the "click of death" which seemed like a lifetime's worth (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_of_death). I became scared to use the 750mb in case of provoking a failure. Something was clearly wrong with the design. It offered such potential when 750mb was otherwise a pipedream! Zip had a transfer rate of about  1mb per sec maybe 20x that of the floppy but 20x less than a hard disk. The Zip disk was killed by two factors. Suicide (by unreliability) and also by recordable optical drives, namely CDR which cost a fortune when they came out (over £1000 for the recorder). I save up and bought one about 1996 for £600; a year after launch. Making your own CDs seemed like the big time; almost like you were a manufacturer yourself. I remember when I backup the whole of my infant version of itunes to CDR and later DVD-R (taking about 10 DVD-R's.....so about 50gb...and that was about 5000 mp3s).

 External hard drives weren't common at all and USB sticks tiny. In fact in the 90s it seems there was no easy way to back up your data. Using another hard drive seemed crazy because they were really expensive. In 1996 a 2gb drive cost about £400...rapidly falling to £300 for £20gb in about 2000.

Then in 1999 Amir Ban, Dov Moran and Oron Ogdan, of M-systems (with the help of IBM) invented the USB stick launched on December 15, 2000 at a humble 8mb. 8mb not 8gb. USB sockets were universal on computers by then, so USB sticks quickly became capable of carrying all you needed from office to office. I remember that before 2000 I had 4x four drawer cabinets for my work papers (largely 4000 scientific papers photocopied and meticulously filed from medical journals). Of course, you could never find the exact paper you wanted, no matter how good the filing system.

In 2004 someone at a conference showed me a 1gb USB stick. I was stunned by its large capacity, not to mention the cost, about £200. That was a lot to carry around. But by 2005 I had one and all these papers had effectively fitted onto one 1gb usb stick. In 2008 I could fit most everything I needed in the office onto a 4gb then 8gb and by 2010 I was carrying two 16gb sticks (one main, one backup) at all times with more than 30,000 files. Up to 2005 I had always felt the need to carry my laptop with me, sometimes with disasterous consequences. An interesing aside, large organizations
loose 265 laptops  per year:

43% of laptops were lost off-site (working from a home office or hotel room)

33 percent lost in transit or travel

Rates are highest in education and research; health and pharmaceuticals

7 percent of all assigned laptops in benchmarked companies will be lost or stolen.

As of 2012 USB drive of 256gb are available and its not just capacity that is up. Its speed too. Lets say you have recorded a HD video in 1080p resolution, a typical file will be 1gb for 120 mins compressed (all consumer camcorders compress the video). Professionals like to boast about raw recording which could be 24-48 frames per second (on frame is close to 8MB, the image 24 per seconds for 120minutes) would be about 1 to 1.5TB....remember those 1million floppies? Well lets assume you got them all onto 100mb Zip disks (yes all 10,500 of them) then at 1mb/s it would take 12 days to transfer the data (day and night assuming you didn't have to swap them!).....this is about the  time it would take with the first generation of slow sticks (USB1.0). Currently most people have USB2.0 and 1TB was on USB2.0 would take about 8 hours to transfer to you HDD.

 Most HDD are going to struggle to transfer this file indeed to good old mechanical HDD days are truely numbered. They are going to be replaced completed by solid state drives. SSDs are like mega RAM / super USB on your HDD. Only two years ago, this was ridiculous because SSD were 100x the price of regular HDD. The first 128gb SSD cost.....wait for it....$4600 in 2007 (review). However prices are dropped already, I just bought the Sandisk 480gb for £250 (amazon) and the increase in speed and responsiveness in windows7 is quite amazing.

SSDs are ideal are HDDs because they are robust, compact and not subject to mechanical failure. I must have lost more than 5 internal HDD due to failue, sometimes loosing everythingt, sometimes with warning signs (clicks, intermitant offs etc). I have learned the hard way to keep back ups. I know have 3x 500gb external drives, 3xTB drives 1x2TB drive, 10+ 16Gb USB sticks, 10+32gb SD cards, and over 100gb of cloud storage. Great, but a little slow at times, which doesn't matter for docs, but can matter for streaming video or large backups. The solution? SSD are also coming to external devices (like camcorders) and as USB SSDs (see OCZ Enyo or Iomega SSD or Transcend SSD). I have a 128gb iomega on order, but no reason you cannot replace the internal SSD with a 512gb very soon as prices fall. These make no sense unless USB3.0 / eSata / Firewire connections can be made with the device in question because SSD can potentially transfer (read write) at up to 5gb/sec (although 500mb/s in more realistic). That means a 1TB in as little as 3 minutes (more realistic figures would be 30-60minutes).....which is whole lot less than the 12 days cites above!

What a journey. In 1990 it was possible to carry 1mb in your pocket, now by 2013 it is quite possible to carry half a million in the form of a 512Gb external SSD. Unbelievable.

Average per person monthly Traffic is >50GB through a landline >500mb when mobile!

2012 must mark some kind of amazing landmark re internet traffic. Average traffic PER MONTH PER USER is an incredible 50gb at home and 0.5gb when mobile! Most downloads (by data) is through Netflix, followed by Youtube. In 2009 the ave user consumed only 8gb per month (and typically 3gb). Youtube shows strong growth. In a parallel of global resources 20% of users consume 90% of bandwidth.

Heres the report:

Sandvine: Netflix up to 29 percent of North American internet traffic, YouTube is fast on the rise

By Jon Fingas posted Nov 8th 2012 at 4:54AM

When we last checked in on one of Sandvine's traffic studies, Netflix had just edged past BitTorrent as the largest source of internet traffic in North America while YouTube was still a small-timer. A year has made quite the difference. Netflix is up to 28.8 percent in a new study, while YouTube has moved up to second place with 13.1 percent and demands even more than ordinary web requests. Rivals like Hulu don't register in the top 10, and YouTube is by far the ruler of mobile with nearly 31 percent of smartphone traffic headed its way. Overall usage is moving up rapidly, no matter what kind of network the continent uses -- the typical North American chews up 659MB per month when mobile and a hefty 51GB through a landline. There's little reason to dispute worries of the impact on bandwidth-strained internet providers, although we suspect most would disagree with Sandvine on what's to be done. The company naturally sees the study as a chance for business with carriers wanting to curb usage or charge extra through its tools; a generation that grew up with internet access, however, would likely see it as a better excuse to roll out more capacity for all those streaming videos.

GMC Complaints and Concerns - Catch 22

Here is the almost unbelievable account of UK psychiatrist Rita Pal as reported in in Sunday Mercury newspaper on February the 6th 2005. The case illustrates the impossible situation of NHS whistleblowers. Basically there is a catch22 clinicians cannot raise concerns about another doctor for fear of being accused of disparaging their reputation (even if it is already fairly muddy) and clinicians cannot raise concerns about an organization or managers for fear of being sacked or receive unwarranted internal complaints. In my view we need to decide which issue is paramount, patient safety or our own reputation?

The GMC now appears to recognize this (at least on paper) http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/ethical_guidance/raising_concerns.asp

[They state]:

a. You have a duty to put patients’ interests first and act to protect them, which overrides personal and professional loyalties.
b. The law provides legal protection against victimisation or dismissal for individuals who reveal information to raise genuine concerns and expose malpractice in the workplace.

 *For further information see the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, the NHS Constitution or Public Concern at Work.

c. You do not need to wait for proof – you will be able to justify raising a concern if you do so honestly, on the basis of reasonable belief and through appropriate channels, even if you are mistaken.


[They also state] You must not enter into contracts or agreements with your employing or contracting body that seek to prevent you from or restrict you in raising concerns about patient safety. Contracts or agreements are void if they intend to stop an employee from making a protected disclosure.^*

You can follow more from Rita Pal herself here: http://palvgmc.blogspot.co.uk/

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HOW GMC TURNED ON BRAVE NHS WHISTLEBLOWER

Published by the Sunday Mercury newspaper on February the 6th 2005

By TOM WELLS

A BRAVE NHS whistleblower could land a record damages pay-out from the
General Medical Council - after it branded her 'mentally ill' in a
secret smear campaign.

Dr Rita Pal went to the watchdog five years ago, claiming seriously
ill elderly patients were being helped to die in Midland hospitals,
but, instead of taking her shocking complaints seriously, the GMC
turned on her.

Top-ranking staff openly questioned her sanity and even talked of
launching a probe into whether she was fit to practise. Now Dr Pal
could sue for huge damages after a judge blasted the controversial
doctors' watchdog for acting like a 'totalitarian regime' similar to
Stalin's Russia.


Today we reveal the extraordinary story of how Britain's leading
medical regulator led a witch-hunt against a courageous whistleblower
coordinated by a mystery GMC figure called 'The Screener'. Dr Pal,
from Sutton Coldfield, recently won a landmark court case which now
paves the way for her to sue the GMC.


The preliminary hearing - held last summer - had been brought by the
watchdog who wanted to 'strike out' any lawsuit from the psychiatrist
before it reached full trial. Instead their case - which cost them
pounds 84,000 in legal fees - was thrown out and, despite lengthy
talks between the two parties, a settlement appears unlikely.


Now Dr Pal is understood to be considering lodging a potentially huge
claim for damages over data protection breaches, human rights abuses
and defamation.

Last night, the watchdog refused to comment on our story, saying only:
'Due to the ongoing legal action in this case we are not able to
comment.' But Dr Pal's case will send shockwaves through the medical
profession which is still reeling from recent disasters such as serial
killer Dr Harold Shipman and the child organs retention scandal.

She told the Sunday Mercury: 'The treatment I have received at the
hands of the GMC has been far worse than that meted out to a mass
murderer. 'Yet I have never killed a patient, nor have there been any
complaints against me.' Although Dr Pal's court battle has just come
to light, the case actually dates back to April 2000. Then a junior
doctor, she broke ranks to go public and highlight a string of alleged
patient abuses in Midland hospitals. She claimed dying patients had
medication withdrawn by medical staff to hasten death and free up beds
while others, who were also seriously ill, were given drugs to kill
them.

Dr Pal, now 32, later submitted a dossier of evidence to the GMC and
promised to co-operate with their investigation into her allegations,
but, after the watchdog refused to meet her on her own terms in
Birmingham, the busy doctor pulled out after becoming frustrated with
the lack of support she was getting. She had also been advised by a
GMC insider to be wary of being interviewed by a watchdog whose
reputation was already under scrutiny because of its handling of
complaints against its own doctors.

As the months drew on, her complaints were seemingly forgotten by the
GMC. But then in 2003 Dr Pal - now working as a psychiatrist -
received a tip-off that high-powered figures at the watchdog were
probing her own conduct. She issued a request under the Data
Protection Act, demanding the GMC hand over all files they held on
her. Astonishingly, when she received them Dr Pal found a series of
internal memos questioning her sanity and fitness to practise as a
doctor. They had been exchanged between three GMC officials: Catherine
Green, a case worker; Peter Lynn, deputy to GMC chief executive and
registrar Finlay Scott; and Sarah Bedwell, head of screening. Also
heavily involved was a mysterious figure - known within the GMC as
'The Screener'.


Despite repeated requests for the identity of 'The Screener' to be
publicly revealed, the GMC have refused to disclose it. But their job
was to act on behalf of the president, Sir Graeme Catto, by
'screening' investigations into doctors BEFORE they began to determine
whether they should go ahead at all.

A stunned Dr Pal read how her refusal to co-operate with the probe
into her original allegations was now being turned against her. One
memo from Mr Lynn, dated November 30 2000, read: '...She may be
suffering from mental illness...Her correspondence, particularly the
documents I have flagged, certainly demonstrate that Dr Pal is
extremely irrational...'There must be some concern about this doctor
having direct access to patients.' The memos, which went right to the
top of the GMC, showed how 'The Screener' tried to use his or her
power to smear Dr Pal. Another memo, from 'The Screener', read: '...I
may be able to make discreet confidential enquiries [about Dr Pal]
which I will do and then discuss...' A year later, in October 2001,
discussions over Dr Pal were STILL going on inside GMC headquarters. A
memo 'The Screener' wrote said: 'I do think that she could have a
health problem. She is certainly intemperate and possibly paranoid...'
And despite having no proof whatsoever that Dr Pal was suffering from
any mental health problems, the GMC kept the memos on file.
Following her Data Protection Act request, a furious Dr Pal demanded
the GMC delete the records but they refused. She then hired a top
barrister and took the watchdog to court - where she notched up
victory in the first legal skirmish.

Judge Charles Harris, QC, ruled the GMC had no grounds for dismissing
Dr Pal's claims before they reached court and told her she had every
right to take the matter to a full jury trial. He also awarded her
pounds 18,000 in costs and launched a withering attack on the conduct
of the GMC. Judge Harris said: 'It [the GMC] is like a totalitarian
regime: anybody who criticises it is said to be prima facie mentally
ill - what used to happen in Russia... 'Costs - at least the
defendants' costs - were clearly out of hand...some pounds 84,000.
This...is a sum which must, in my judgement, be difficult to justify.'


Dr Pal told the Mercury: 'There has been no complaint against me by
any patients and my GP verifies that I have not been mentally ill and
the judge agreed.'The entire point centres on whistleblowing.' If
whistleblowers are to be treated with such contempt, then there will
be no-one who will prevent the next Dr Harold Shipman. 'It is due to
the catastrophic failure of systems like the GMC and Department of
Health that Dr Shipman managed to kill so many people - it of course
starts with discrediting a whistleblower from the outset.'

88% Hate Courier Initial CityLink Heres An Example of Why

Had a parcel to send next day so I booked a courier online. My mistake was that I chose Initial City Link. According to their website "City Link has been successfully delivering documents, parcels, pallets and freight throughout the world since 1969"....I guess they don't mention the unsuccessful ones.

On the first day, they never showed up. I rang, driver was new apparently. Rebooked, but on the second collection day they failed to turn up again. No explanation. After two failed pick ups rang HQ on the 3rd day. Then they claimed they had in fact picked up the parcel (which was still sitting on my desk btw). Turns out they picked up the wrong parcel from an unknown 3rd party address and tried to deliver the wrong parcel on my behalf. Total chaos. Cancelled. They refused to refund. What a great british company.

More examples are here http://amplicate.com/hate/citylink

The Science Behind Getting Published Finally Explained

Someone finally explained the steps required to get a peer reviewed publication. Here it is in this simple illustration

Dragon Naturally Speaking 11...Comical Results

I recently purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking 11, actually it was free with the excellent Sony  ICD-PX312D Voice recorder. This recorder manages to record high quality mono (and stereo with mic) audio files of pretty much unlimited length for only about £40. The idea was the transcribe the patient videos being collected for CancerStories.Info. After 5 minutes of training, it seemed to be ready so I loaded up the file and here is the slightly comical result:

We can meet a carries a lead character about her experience with a diagnosis having failures of breast cancer anaesthesiology more was the first thing that have talking about going back to when you were always the first thing, you are the parent company cellular and then fill in any and all over and Octavia Kane and the people are having parallel anyhow: holiday and still the elevator travellers visiting wealthy and a full scale the skill on an island has an holiday areas and comeback this layout 10 years in time you have I live a check on the same as that the planning a loud reality of a ending because the plentiful supply of oversight and I'm glad you and any ill (and will save you are the best that they can exercise is a very visible in a field in his systems and in the theatre will have to make you and your town on the edge and allow anything like the EP is where his danger is that there is an because, in time and value them there were in fact I do them in a massive push to techno and you can say definitely times and finally… And now

I can promise this bears no resemblance to the original, except for the words "breast cancer".I guess more "training" is needed!

Small and Beautiful! Acer K11 Projector...pico with style

Came across with tiny 10cm x 10cm pico projector on sale for about £200. I didn't expect too much but wow this really performs. At 200 lumens its plenty bright enough for powerpoint and also for movies etc. I have at old Runko CRT that is about 100x heavier but no clearer. The projector can be carried in a laptop bag and allows inputs direct from sd card, hdmi and d-sub. Impressive and highly recommended!