{
  "meta": {
    "key": "hdd_cost",
    "title": "HDD Cost Collapse",
    "unit": "USD/GB",
    "category": "Computing",
    "source": "John C. McCallum via Our World in Data",
    "sourceUrl": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/historical-cost-of-computer-memory-and-storage",
    "verified": "2026-09-06",
    "url": "https://exponentialtracker.com/curve/hdd_cost",
    "csv": "https://exponentialtracker.com/data/hdd_cost.csv",
    "json": "https://exponentialtracker.com/data/hdd_cost.json",
    "retrievedFrom": "Compiled by Exponential Tracker and re-derived from the source named above. Rebuilt on every deploy, so re-fetch rather than trusting a saved copy to be current.",
    "rights": "The underlying data belongs to John C. McCallum via Our World in Data. This compilation may be reused with attribution to Exponential Tracker. No licence is claimed or implied over the source data.",
    "citation": "Exponential Tracker, \"HDD Cost Collapse\", exponentialtracker.com/curve/hdd_cost, data verified 2026-09-06. Underlying source: John C. McCallum via Our World in Data."
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "year": 1956,
      "value": 87539000,
      "label": "IBM RAMAC, the first disk drive"
    },
    {
      "year": 1959,
      "value": 67593300
    },
    {
      "year": 1960,
      "value": 31477000
    },
    {
      "year": 1964,
      "value": 29376100
    },
    {
      "year": 1966,
      "value": 8365510
    },
    {
      "year": 1970,
      "value": 1732300
    },
    {
      "year": 1973,
      "value": 1513810
    },
    {
      "year": 1974,
      "value": 971198
    },
    {
      "year": 1975,
      "value": 889964
    },
    {
      "year": 1979,
      "value": 659505
    },
    {
      "year": 1980,
      "value": 581068
    },
    {
      "year": 1981,
      "value": 526733
    },
    {
      "year": 1982,
      "value": 496166
    },
    {
      "year": 1983,
      "value": 311561
    },
    {
      "year": 1984,
      "value": 93411.1
    },
    {
      "year": 1985,
      "value": 75509.4
    },
    {
      "year": 1986,
      "value": 43568.1
    },
    {
      "year": 1987,
      "value": 34098.1
    },
    {
      "year": 1988,
      "value": 21804.6
    },
    {
      "year": 1989,
      "value": 15619.1
    },
    {
      "year": 1990,
      "value": 6473.7,
      "label": "$6,474/GB"
    },
    {
      "year": 1991,
      "value": 5305.44
    },
    {
      "year": 1992,
      "value": 2581.65
    },
    {
      "year": 1993,
      "value": 1285.6
    },
    {
      "year": 1994,
      "value": 756.563
    },
    {
      "year": 1995,
      "value": 363.161
    },
    {
      "year": 1996,
      "value": 210.48
    },
    {
      "year": 1997,
      "value": 78.0256
    },
    {
      "year": 1998,
      "value": 39.4468
    },
    {
      "year": 1999,
      "value": 13.7285
    },
    {
      "year": 2000,
      "value": 6.11957
    },
    {
      "year": 2001,
      "value": 3.78498
    },
    {
      "year": 2002,
      "value": 1.75035
    },
    {
      "year": 2003,
      "value": 1.05482
    },
    {
      "year": 2004,
      "value": 0.834909
    },
    {
      "year": 2005,
      "value": 0.538361
    },
    {
      "year": 2006,
      "value": 0.280789
    },
    {
      "year": 2007,
      "value": 0.249622
    },
    {
      "year": 2008,
      "value": 0.120196
    },
    {
      "year": 2009,
      "value": 0.0844338
    },
    {
      "year": 2010,
      "value": 0.0534106
    },
    {
      "year": 2011,
      "value": 0.0421804,
      "label": "Thailand floods halt production"
    },
    {
      "year": 2012,
      "value": 0.0413252
    },
    {
      "year": 2013,
      "value": 0.0407286
    },
    {
      "year": 2014,
      "value": 0.0382637
    },
    {
      "year": 2015,
      "value": 0.030935
    },
    {
      "year": 2016,
      "value": 0.0298702
    },
    {
      "year": 2017,
      "value": 0.0263964
    },
    {
      "year": 2018,
      "value": 0.024087
    },
    {
      "year": 2019,
      "value": 0.0189813
    },
    {
      "year": 2020,
      "value": 0.01625
    },
    {
      "year": 2021,
      "value": 0.0155208
    },
    {
      "year": 2022,
      "value": 0.0126374
    },
    {
      "year": 2023,
      "value": 0.0106174,
      "label": "Cheapest drive ever recorded: $99.99 for 8TB"
    }
  ]
}