50th Anniversary of the Hard Disk Drive]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rod Van Meter <rdv () alumni caltech edu>
Date: September 14, 2006 6:21:11 AM JST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: [Fwd: 50th Anniversary of the Hard Disk Drive]
Reply-To: rdv () alumni caltech edu

Dave,

Jack Cole gave me permission to forward this on to you for IP.

                --Rod

From: Cole, John (Civ, ARL/CISD) <cole () ARL ARMY MIL>
Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:43:04 -0400

The 50th anniversary of shipment of the first hard drive will occur this
Wednesday, September 13, 2006.

The original hard disk drive (IBM 305 RAMAC) in 1956 stored only 5MB of
data on fifty 24-inch disks and weighed over 250 kg (over 550 pounds).
About the size of two large refrigerators and as tall as a man, you
could lease the whole unit for about $250,000/year in today's dollars
and not quite store two mp3 copies of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog".

RAMAC = Random Access Memory Accounting System

http://www.magneticdiskheritagecenter.org/

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_PH0305.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BRL61-IBM_305_RAMAC.jpeg

http://www.computerhistory.org/50yearsHDD-c/

http://news.com.com/2300-1015_3-6110361-1.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14096484/site/newsweek/



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