Core Memory

This core module, purchased from a Boston surplus shop in 1971, has 26 identical planes stacked on top of each other. The uppermost one is visible; it's an X-Y matrix of 16 x 32 individual ferrite cores. That's 512 bits per plane, for a total of 13,312 bits. In a 3 pound package. When originally manufactured it probably cost in excess of $1,000.

On top is a 1 Gb thumb drive, a flash memory device that, like the core, is non-volatile. It stores 8,589,934,592 bits and cost $100 in 2004.