A Functioning 1KB Hard Drive Created In Minecraft

The phenomenally successful game Minecraft is unique in that it allows players to build things in much the same way that they are built in real life — brick by brick. Among its tons of projects, people have built the entire world of Star Wars, a replica of Manhattan and several art works. Using the in-game material “redstone,” players can even create functioning circuits. Apparently, hardcore gamers have been building upon this to create virtual hard drives, which are actually programmable.

This is a gif demonstrating the individual building blocks of a Minecraft hard drive. Hundreds or thousands of these are necessary to create more complicated systems.

Using mutiple circuits, a binary storage hard drive is possible. The game can then “read” your code back to you. The Verge found the biggest Minecraft hard drive we’ve seen to date, which can hold up to 1KB of storage. This video of a smaller hard drive gives a good explanation of how these things work.

The idea of a computer-within-a-computer is pretty fascinating, and dedicated gamers still plugging away in the game could create even more advanced technology in the near future.