My first contact with data storage was during my apprenticeship in the offices of a German glass factory, around 1974. Their computer system was an IBM 360 and the head of the computer department let me put the lists of my music tapes on punch cards, so I could sort and print them out in various ways. The cards themselves made a very convenient card file.
Years later, the first hard drive I didn't buy was an optional one for my DEC Rainbow 100 computer: 7000 deutschmarks for 5 MB. Thanks but no, thanks.
The first one I actually bought was a 20 MB 5 1/4" "half-height" MFM drive (or was it RLL?) for my Amiga 2000: 1200 deutschmarks at the time. Never thought I'd be able to fill that drive. A few months later, it had magically filled up and a 50 MB 3 1/2" hard drive soon followed. Five years later, lightning struck and killed my then Amiga 3000. The insurance kindly paid for a Amiga 3000T with a drive of mind-boggling capacity: 1 GB! Never thought I'd be able to fill that. A few months later...
Today, I couldn't even say how many drives with how much capacity are running in this place. Yet, I'll need a few more soon.