Expressions – Understanding the Law of ‘Data Expands to Fill the Available Space’

expressions

What is the name of the "law" that says that data will expand to fill the available space? I tried googling it but didn't see the name. it was referred to as an instance of Parkinson's law.

Best Answer

This is simply an extension to Parkinson's Law, apparently dubbed

Parkinson's Law of Data

The Jargon File

“Data expands to fill the space available for storage”; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. (The original 1958 Parkinson's Law described the structural tendency of bureaucracies to make work for themselves.) It has been observed since the mid-1980s that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to about double once every 18 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely."

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