I recall (>20 years ago) reading TAOCP, and laughing to myself about how obsolete the section on sorting using multiple tape drives. And here we are. There are

I recall (>20 years ago) reading TAOCP, and laughing to myself about how obsolete the section on sorting using multiple tape drives. And here we are. There are newer editions (2004, 2014) of the McKusick et al book, s/4.4 BSD/FreeBSD/1 for the updated title. If you don't want any taint of knowledge of fast flash drives, maybe go with the 2004 edition.