At last, an answer to that age old question:

[macduke]

Trick question!

The real question on my mind: how much storage space to cover the entire history of the internet’s contents, including revisions to sites; fly-by-night storage locker links like Mega; DMCA-takedown(ed) content; and everything file-shared with a publicly accessible link?

It’s unanswerable, which is a shame. It didn’t have to be this way.

What's cool is that with advances in AI and indexing, I think the answer will be knowable, from a certain date moving forward only. So you might see an article like "How much data was uploaded publicly in 2037."

What will be tricky is knowing how much data is stored privately in things like iCloud and Dropbox, or even submitted as a form stored in a database, as an example. It might be possible to know the total amount uploaded across all ISPs and use AI to run analytics on that. I bet each company knows the answer to that question for their customers because they likely use that data to plan projections for future upgrades. They may share this information with their technology partners that are developing solutions for them. Would be really fascinating to find out.

 

[mortlocli]

Well, that's only if you uploaded your copy of the Internet to the Internet.

Yes..wot we need is a large quota on cloud storage..so we could download the Internet to the cloud and double the size of the Internet each time we did that

 

[mortlocli]

I want to download the internet to my iPhone. All zettabytes or ultra zettabytes

You'll need a Nokia phone to do that...one of those ones with the black text on a green back ground screen...I think.

 

[Longkeg]

Good news! You no longer need to copy and download the internet. It’s been done for you. Just go to eBay and pick up your very own “internet in a box” as seen on the Brit Com “The IT Crowd.” It’s all in there!

 

[mortlocli]

Good news! You no longer need to copy and download the internet. It’s been done for you. Just go to eBay and pick up your very own “internet in a box” as seen on the Brit Com “The IT Crowd.” It’s all in there!

Tis odd..I thought it would be in a bigger box than that???

 

[Longkeg]

Tis odd..I thought it would be in a bigger box than that???

Come on man….. Miniaturization!

 

[B S Magnet]

What's cool is that with advances in AI and indexing, I think the answer will be knowable, from a certain date moving forward only. So you might see an article like "How much data was uploaded publicly in 2037."

What will be tricky is knowing how much data is stored privately in things like iCloud and Dropbox, or even submitted as a form stored in a database, as an example. It might be possible to know the total amount uploaded across all ISPs and use AI to run analytics on that. I bet each company knows the answer to that question for their customers because they likely use that data to plan projections for future upgrades. They may share this information with their technology partners that are developing solutions for them. Would be really fascinating to find out.

Yah, but this isn’t much of interest to me personally, or as a researcher of early internet evolution. And more importantly, it isn’t the value of the total amount so much as what constituted that amount. Unfortunately, that is lost to the sands.

 

[B S Magnet]

I'm sure current data stored corresponds to total data transferred (there are probably records for that), so you'll be able to extrapolate a pretty good guesstimate if you know those two points over a fixed amount of time.

Then just get a harddrive double that size, and you're good to go for some time.
View attachment 2184247

(That's an IBM 350 with 5MB of storage - i'm sure they can store more nowadays)

What a svelte little baby!

 

[chown33]

...
(That's an IBM 350 with 5MB of storage - i'm sure they can store more nowadays)

I had to look that one up (bold added):

History of IBM magnetic disk drives - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The 350 stores 5 million 6-bit characters (3.75 MB).[15] It has fifty-two 24-inch (610 mm) diameter disks of which 100 recording surfaces are used, omitting the top surface of the top disk and the bottom surface of the bottom disk. Each surface has 100 tracks. The disks spin at 1200 rpm. Data transfer rate is 8,800 characters per second. An access mechanism moves a pair of heads up and down to select a disk pair (one down surface and one up surface) and in and out to select a recording track of a surface pair.

Its speed was below 0.01 MB/sec. Floppy disks are faster.

 

[Thoradin]

Good news! You no longer need to copy and download the internet. It’s been done for you. Just go to eBay and pick up your very own “internet in a box” as seen on the Brit Com “The IT Crowd.” It’s all in there!

Just don’t forget to return it to the top of Big Ben when you’re finished with it, or you’ll anger the elders of the internet

 

[mortlocli]

What a svelte little baby!

Oh that's just the pocket version.

 

[mortlocli]

Yah, but this isn’t much of interest to me personally, or as a researcher of early internet evolution. And more importantly, it isn’t the value of the total amount so much as what constituted that amount. Unfortunately, that is lost to the sands.

I think the sociology side of it would be of most interest to me. Like if we go from IBMs response of 'why would people want a personal computer?'.. To new industries or activities never thought of before ..or the not so nice side - the evil of the Internet..like a cancer grows..where it starts and leads Could it be turned into positive? Or would Big Brother have total control..kinda like how big companies like Google and Microsoft had to adapt to China's requirements to be allowed operate..

Is the Internet really just a snapshot of humanity on a postage stamp??

 

[B S Magnet]

I think the sociology side of it would be of most interest to me. Like if we go from IBMs response of 'why would people want a personal computer?'.. To new industries or activities never thought of before ..or the not so nice side - the evil of the Internet..like a cancer grows..where it starts and leads Could it be turned into positive? Or would Big Brother have total control..kinda like how big companies like Google and Microsoft had to adapt to China's requirements to be allowed operate..

Is the Internet really just a snapshot of humanity on a postage stamp??

Things no one ever asked for: the Durkheimian “effervescence machine” of social media.

 

[HouseLannister]

But how much after pkzip?

 

[mortlocli]

Things no one ever asked for: the Durkheimian “effervescence machine” of social media.

Oh my goodness...so many paths.

 

[mortlocli]

But how much after pkzip?

Dang!!

..now we've all got to redo our sums and calculations!!