History of Computers - IBM 350
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IBM 350
The IBM 350 was the first disk drive created in 1956.
Overview
The 350 stored 5 million 6-bit characters. It had fifty 24-inch diameter disks with 100 recording surfaces. Each surface had 100 tracks. The disks spun at 1200 RPM. Data transfer rate was 8,800 characters per second. An access mechanism moved a pair of heads up and down to select a disk pair and in and out to select a recording track of a surface pair. The 350 was 60 inches long, 68 inches tall and 29 inches wide.
Significance
The IBM 350 was important because it was the first disk drive. It was the stepping stone for many smaller disk drive inventions.
References
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_350.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives#IBM_350
