In 1956, IBM unveiled to the public the first hard drive in the short history of computing, theIBM 350 which came to equip the computer IBM RAMAC 305 (Ramdom Access Method of Accounting and Control).
With a capacity of 5 MB, which seems ridiculous today, it was billed at $50 at the time.
The size of a large wardrobe (152cm x 172cm x 74cm) it weighed more than a ton… a real behemoth.
It was equipped with 50 metal platters of 60 cm diameter which turned at 1 revolutions per minute which allowed it to display a writing speed of approximately 200 KB/sec.
During its marketing period from 1957 to 1961, more than a thousand units were sold.
Finally, to finish, here is an ad from the time for this revolutionary machine!
Article updated on May 20, 2021 by Byothe
Exciting !
And according to the IBM presentation, the RAMAC is a “compact” machine!
Note that the young lady only types on her keyboard with one finger of her left hand.