Zettabytes and Beyond

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Zettabytes and Beyond

  • To paraphrase ...

    Data is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is.

    I'm a DBA.
    I'm not paid to solve problems. I'm paid to prevent them.

  • What would the next stage up from VLDB be - BHDB*?

    *Bloody huge database

    -------------------------------Posting Data Etiquette - Jeff Moden [/url]Smart way to ask a question
    There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand (the world). There is no such thing as a dumb question. ― Carl Sagan
    I would never join a club that would allow me as a member - Groucho Marx

  • What we call "data" is different nowadays. I never used to consider my large collection of vinyl LPs and cassettes, or my printed photographs, as somehow containing multiple GB of data. But my music and pictures now take up the vast majority of the storage on my home PC.

    In some part of my brain, I still consider "data" and "media" to be different; and I keep a relatively small amount of what I'd consider to be "data".

  • What I'd like to know is how much the sum of human knowledge has grown in the same time.

    As we all know, data isn't useful to us as such; it only becomes so once analysed, and at that point it's information, not data. Back in the 90s, many computer pros used to work in Data Processing, and once our field changed to Information Technology, we often got quite touchy if the old term was used. Now, with the sheer scale of the amount of data being produced, I wonder if we're in danger of forgetting the value of information and and accidentally sliding back to a data processing role. Probably not, but it gets me thinking nonetheless....

    Oh, and I think I'll coin the acronym FONBDB as the successor to VLDB, but all things considered I don't think I'll elaborate on its meaning 😉

    Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat

  • I'm more a fan of keeping only what you need and either archiving or purging the rest. When it comes to music and pictures I still favor objects I can hold in my hand. I have a rather large CD collection that I have no plans to port to MPx format and I've found that digital photos actually end up being shoot and forget you have it. Of course it is convenient to have all your pictures on a laptop and be able to browse them but for me it can't replace the enjoyment of looking at old photo albums found in a closet every couple of years.

    Cheers

  • majorbloodnock (3/21/2013)


    What I'd like to know is how much the sum of human knowledge has grown in the same time.

    . . .

    Good point.

    How percentage of total data consists of the following?

    denormalized table design, improper data types, markup tags, duplicate data, replicated data, indexes (both used and not used), unfilled pages, table fragmentation, temp space, transaction log space, etc.

    Even after eliminating all of the above, a huge percentage of actual data that's left consists of digital junkfood like email spam, cat videos, and pornography. There are even some companies that accumulate TB of data recording things like web page visits and mouse clicks.

    I guess it could eventually becomes usable information for someone, but the total size of our collective databases are hardly a benchmark for measuring the ever expanding body of human knowledge.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Point of order: in 1983, 30 years ago, we were using 1.2MB 5.25" DS floppies, and 720KB 3.5" DS floppies.

    1.44MB floppies didn't show up until 1986, so they're only 27 years old.

    8" floppies, now, that's where it was at!

  • In a practical sense, it doesn't matter if it's cat videos or anything else. We still need to manage the data, which means work for us in the data business. Businesses are finding more ways to capture data, arguably lots of which isn't useful or important, but we must still deal with it.

  • Eric M Russell (3/21/2013)


    majorbloodnock (3/21/2013)


    What I'd like to know is how much the sum of human knowledge has grown in the same time.

    . . .

    Good point.

    How percentage of total data consists of the following?

    denormalized table design, improper data types, markup tags, duplicate data, replicated data, indexes (both used and not used), unfilled pages, table fragmentation, temp space, transaction log space, etc.

    Even after eliminating all of the above, a huge percentage of actual data that's left consists of digital junkfood like email spam, cat videos, and pornography. There are even some companies that accumulate TB of data recording things like web page visits and mouse clicks.

    I guess it could eventually becomes usable information for someone, but the total size of our collective databases are hardly a benchmark for measuring the ever expanding body of human knowledge.

    I recall more than a few nights spent in front of the TV with Seinfeld and M*A*S*H, a shoebox full single sided 5.25 diskettes, notching a little hole in the corner of each one, and re-formatting them my new double density drive.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Nadrek (3/21/2013)


    Point of order: in 1983, 30 years ago, we were using 1.2MB 5.25" DS floppies, and 720KB 3.5" DS floppies.

    1.44MB floppies didn't show up until 1986, so they're only 27 years old.

    8" floppies, now, that's where it was at!

    Nadrek - I agree completely. In the very early 70's I first saw a floppy disk. An 8 inch disk with no jacket just the disk itself was produced and put in the back of a highly modified 029 Keypunch machine as a prototype for key-to-disk entry. It was as if the world went crazy with the idea of unlimited storage at your finger tips. After a few months on the floor, the prototype had to be modified because people would fold the disk up and put it in the pocket, or staple it to the paper datasheets they entered in on the disk. Also it was so dirty that data was often lost.

    Prior to this we were booting computers using decks of cards, with the new innovation of a floppy we were able to move to the "new age" of computing. only a short 40+ years back it was considered cutting-edge. Now sitting in the dusty corner of the Smithsonian people wonder what that stuff was used for. Once "Big Data" it is now old rusty techno-garbage.

    History will repeat itself. I wonder what it sill be like in another 40 years. 🙂

    M.

    Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!

  • "How much data is there in the world?"

    A lot. In the Friday or Saturday evening in North America Xbox BI is getting 1TB of logs every 15-25 seconds. That does not include the data that the front end servers are streaming or downloading to the consoles.

    That forces an entirely new way of thinking not only about BI but about data processing in general.

    And that is only one system.

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor (3/21/2013)


    In a practical sense, it doesn't matter if it's cat videos or anything else. We still need to manage the data, which means work for us in the data business. Businesses are finding more ways to capture data, arguably lots of which isn't useful or important, but we must still deal with it.

    I know, and I appreciate all the opportunity it provides. I was just commenting that most today's databases have a low signal-to-noise ratio. Somtimes it seems we spend too much time thinking about how to manage and store data without considering how best to architect and optimze data.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Eric M Russell (3/21/2013)


    Eric M Russell (3/21/2013)


    majorbloodnock (3/21/2013)


    What I'd like to know is how much the sum of human knowledge has grown in the same time.

    . . .

    Good point.

    How percentage of total data consists of the following?

    denormalized table design, improper data types, markup tags, duplicate data, replicated data, indexes (both used and not used), unfilled pages, table fragmentation, temp space, transaction log space, etc.

    Even after eliminating all of the above, a huge percentage of actual data that's left consists of digital junkfood like email spam, cat videos, and pornography. There are even some companies that accumulate TB of data recording things like web page visits and mouse clicks.

    I guess it could eventually becomes usable information for someone, but the total size of our collective databases are hardly a benchmark for measuring the ever expanding body of human knowledge.

    I recall more than a few nights spent in front of the TV with Seinfeld and M*A*S*H, a shoebox full single sided 5.25 diskettes, notching a little hole in the corner of each one, and re-formatting them my new double density drive.

    Wow, I had almost forgotten about doing things like that. I still have boxes full of diskettes of various sizes/density.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • Just look at flash drives. I remember being given a couple 512MB drives buy a tech salesperson who obviously didn't know the costs. I looked it up, and at the time to get them with a logo cost about $20 a piece unless you were buying thousands. Then it dropped to about $15 a piece.

    I recently purchased a 32GB drive in the form of a heart for a friend. It was $15.

    But the flip side of all this story -- what will be left behind a hundred, let alone a thousand years from now? We can still decode the data left on the pyramids at Giza. Will anyone be able to still read the data left on your hard drives? :ermm:



    ----------------
    Jim P.

    A little bit of this and a little byte of that can cause bloatware.

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