Google’s First Storage Rack

I had heard of this from Larry and Sergey seven years ago, but saw it yesterday for the first time. The Google founders told me that their beta system used Duplo blocks for the chassis. They expertimented with generic brand plastic blocks, and they were not rigid enough, leading to a literal HDD crash.

The Google design approach reflects a presumption of rapid obsolescence of cheap hardware, which would not need to be repaired. That can also be seen in their first production server.

This is currently in the basement of Stanford’s new Huang Engineering building, on loan from the CS Dept.