Where currently is the computer with the largest memory and what is it used for?

Answer 1

I assume that you meant main memory RAM, not disk storage.

The eServer pSeries p5 575 1.9 GHz used at DOE/NNSA/LLNL in Livermore CA (ASC Purple) has 48832 GB (~49 TB) of main memory.

DOE is Department of Energy
NNSA is National Nuclear Security Administration
LLNL is Lawrence Livermore National laboratory

Note that the question does not make sense for some distributed/parallel systems, where computational and memory resource can be dynamically allocated.

For example, 1 million PC's, each with 500 MB of memory, participating in a distributed.net process, would comprise 500 TB.

Does that qualify as a computer?

Answer 2

I have worked on some computers with over 400GB of memory that is used for many things. As far as for the largest, I couldn't say. Just thought I would offer some perspective.

Answer 3

A terabyte (derived from the binary prefix tera-) is a measurement term for data storage capacity approximately equal to 1000 gigabytes. Another way to look at it is approximately one trillion (short scale) bytes. It is commonly abbreviated TB.

The exact number of bytes in a terabyte often varies in common usage originating from a discrepancy between the binary prefix used in computers and SI. The following is the number of bytes in a terabyte according to the binary prefix:
1,099,511,627,776 bytes = 10244 or 240. (This capacity may be expressed unambiguously as a tebibyte.)

This is the system traditionally used in computer science. However, because of confusion stemming from the apparent discrepancy between the SI and the lesser-known binary prefix, modern day common usage often denotes the following number of bytes in a terabyte as follows:
1,000,000,000,000 bytes = 10004 or 1012.

The prefix "tera" originates from the Greek word teras meaning "monster".

Erica wills
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Terabytes in use
The U.S. Library of Congress has claimed it contains approximately 20 terabytes of text.
One hour of uncompressed Ultra High Definition Video (UHDV) consumes approximately 11½ terabytes of data.
A Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) can hold up to 3.9 terabytes
Personal computers and related devices such as TiVos containing a terabyte or more of storage space have recently become practical using combinations of high-capacity mass-market hard drives. As of June 2006, common commercial hard drives were up to 750 gigabytes in size, so storage capacity totalling 1.5 terabytes can be reached using as few as 2 hard disks, at a street cost of as little as USD $450, down from over USD $1000 in 2003. (source: www.newegg.com)
Rapidshare has over 360 terabytes of space used for hosting files.
Ancestry.com now claims 600 terabytes of genealogical data with the inclusion o US Census data from 1790 to 1930.
IsoHunt the BitTorrent Tracker claim they have over 200 TBs of Torrent files
Protein-coated discs theoretically contain 50 Terabytes of data
1.25 terabytes has been claimed as the capacity of a human being's functional memory, according to Raymond Kurzweil in The Singularity Is Near, p. 126. However, this is not widely accepted.

Normally, commercially-sold 1TB Hard Drives contain only 0.909494702 tebibytes. This is because Hard Drive manufacturers normally use the Metric System (1,000,000,000,000 bytes instead of 1,099,511,627,776 bytes).