half century of hard drives

Hard drives radically changed the way the world stores data. And for a brief period, at least one was a tourist attraction as well. Crown Zellerbach, at one time a major paper producer in San Francisco, was the first company to install a RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) machine, the first IBM computer with a then-newfangled piece of storage technology called a hard drive, according to Jim Porter, president of analysis firm Disk/Trend. The RAMAC--officially announced on Sept. 13, 1956--weighed 1 ton and stored 5MB of data on 50 spinning platters, 24 inches in diameter.
Hard drive hall of fame

Here's a brief look at some notable hard drives in history.

YearDrive

1956 IBM 350. Consists of 50 disks, each 24 inches in diameter.

1962 IBM comes up a storage system based on packs of six 14-inch disks. Each pack holds 2MB. Commercially, this is when drives take off.

1979 IBM develops an 8-inch drive.1980The 5.25-inch "Winchester" drive makes its debut. Its design plays a key role in the development of the PC market.1983Rodine issues a 10MB 3.25-inch drive. It's still the standard form factor for desktops.

1988 PrairieTek releases its 2.5-inch 20MB drive, the size of which remains the mainstay in notebooks.

1991 Integrated Peripherals debuts its 1.8-inch drive. Drives this size aren't destined to go mainstream until the debut of Apple Computer's first iPod, more than 10 years later.

1992 Hewlett-Packard produces a 1.3-inch drive. It doesn't make a major bang, though drive manufacturers are now thinking about bringing it back.

1999 IBM releases a 1-inch microdrive with 340MB of capacity. That capacity has since expanded to 8GB.

2004 Toshiba shrinks the drive to 0.85 inches in diameter. Many believe that this is the smallest size drive that will be mass-made

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