You can read about how this works at a variety of websites (like Gizmodo), but the end result is that a cassette could hold 185 TB of data. However, this tape isn't really designed for everyday use: as IT World writes, "Magnetic tape has been eclipsed by hard disk drives and flash drives as a medium in recent years but is still in use to preserve critical information over the long-term in data centers, corporate archives and other facilities."

So, basically if you're talking about mp3 bootlegs of an indie band you barely remember, or you're storing Instagram photos of a drunken night out with your bros? Disk drive, no problem. But for anything really important? Stick with tape.

And more people are getting wise to this. Last year's "2013 State of the Tape Market Memo," issued by the Tape Storage Council (which is also a thing), said tape storage tape capacity shipments grew by 13 percent in 2012 and were projected to grow by 26 percent last year (figures for 2013 don't appear to be available yet).