Digital Big Bang — 161 Exabytes In 2006

An anonymous reader tips us to an AP story on a recent study of how much data we are producing. IDC estimates that in 2006 we created, captured, and replicated 161 exabytes of digital information. The last time anyone tried to estimate global information volume, in 2003, researchers at UC Berkeley came up with 5 exabytes. (The current study tries to account for duplicating data — on the same assumptions as the 2003 study it would have come out at 40 exabytes.) By 2010, according to IDC, we will be producing far more data than we will have room to store, closing in on a zettabyte.

XXX

[daddyrief]

And half of that is porn...

Re:XXX

[the-amazing-blob]

Way to clog the tubes up, guys. Seriously. :P

It was only 9 megs

[noewun]

Without Slashdot dupes.

Re:XXX

[daddyrief]

That's just what happens after a 'digital big bang.'

Finally, an excuse...

[bigforearms]

The furry porn gets deleted first.

How many...

[Looce]

... times does the Library of Congress fit in that? Exabytes simply don't speak to me.

Alternatively, you can also answer in anime episodes, or mp3 files.

Sorry, my fault...

[slobber]

I left cat /dev/urandom running

Re:How many...

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

That'd be 1,191,400 Libraries of Congress.

Honestly, I don't know why the /. editors allow these "scientific articles" that only provide data in these obscure and archaic "byte" measurements. Absurd!

Must be the space donuts

[Anonymous Coward]

So the sum total of data has increased by a factor of more than 30 since 2003? I knew Brent Spiner was putting on weight, but damn.

"closing in on a zettabyte"

[Supreme Dragon]

Is that the size of the next MS OS?

We won't produce more data than can be stored.

[ProfessionalCookie]

Data that cannot be stored will not be produced because all data that is produced must be stored. Data that is not stored (for however short a time) is not really produced.

Then again the past no longer exists anyway, the future doesn't exist yet and the present has no duration- so maybe the data never existed anyway. Maybe you don't exist?!?! Awe man maybe I *~/ disappears in a puff of logic*
----
Kudos to Augustine and Adams

Re:What if ISP's are forced to retain data?

[garcia]

Will my ISP rates increase to pay for all of that disk space?

No, of course not. Any law or regulation that the government comes up with doesn't have any hidden costs.

Re:What if ISP's are forced to retain data?

[daeg]

Costs be damned when you're The Decider and, much to the dismay of IT budgets everywhere, can change time itself on a whim!

Re:How many...

[Anonymous Coward]

760 billion episodes of anime.In other words, about half the length of a typical Dragonball Z fight scene.

Re:Finally, an excuse...

[Anonymous Coward]

The furry porn gets deleted first.

I'd mod you down, but there's no -1, Fursecution option.

Damn you Slashdot! When will it ever stop!?!?!!~

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:We won't produce more data than can be stored.

[istartedi]

disappears in a puff of logic

Great. Now we're all going to be inhaling second-hand logic. There ought to be a law...

Exabyte tapes

[Roger W Moore]

So at this rate it won't be long before we will need real Exabyte tapes. I always thought the original ones should qualify for the award of world's most misleading name since their capacity was 500 million times less what their name suggested.

Re:XXX

[maxume]

They upgraded to mpeg4.

Re:Sorry, my fault...

[Dirtside]

Yes, but what he didn't say is that he left it running on every computer on earth.

Re:Sorry, my fault...

[T-Ranger]

Checking quickly, your comment just showed up in my /dev/urandom at 74629629165936 blocks of 1k. It may be in there again.

Dr Evil

[steveoc]

So DR Evil, after emerging from his suspended animation, would demand a computer big enough to store 100 Megabytes of evil data.

Re:And here I thought Malthus was dead

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

Exactly. My company is developing a new storage medium based on penistechnology. If you don't have enough space, just play with it and it gets bigger. We're close to commercial release, just one more critical bug to iron out: it tends to burst out data if you try to enlarge it for too long.

Re:stupid

[OneoFamillion]

What do you think happens every single time you pick up a telephone and call someone? Praytell, where is that data stored?

Uhh... Department of Homeland Security?