256 GB USB Drive

When I got my Packard Bell 386 computer than ran Windows 3.1, I was amazed at the hard drive space. It was 40 MB, as I recall, and when it started to fill up, I used disk compression software to double it to a spectacular 80 MB.

For most of you, that probably sounds like some oldster retelling a boring tale of walking six miles through the snow to get to school each day, carrying a hot baked potato in his pocket for warmth on the journey, then eating the potato at lunch to have enough energy for the walk home.

Kingston has released a USB drive that weighs in at a staggering 256 GB, more storage than existed on most home computers until the last several years. In the days of my PB 386, you would need the GDP of France to purchase 256 GB of memory. Merde!

This just begs the question - what the heck are we carrying around with us data-wise, and why is it imperative that we're able to lug around such massive amounts of 1s and 0s without giving any thought to securing that data and keeping it out of the wrong hands?

Via Dvice