[mbriant]

I believe this is just the hard drive.

In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD).

The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5MB of data.

Makes you appreciate your 4GB Flash disk, doesn't it?

Quote:

In 1956, the IBM 305 RAMAC and 650 RAMAC machines are launched. The 305 is the first magnetic hard disk for data storage, and the RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) technology soon becomes the industry standard. The storage capacity of the 305's 50 two-foot diameter disks was 5 megabytes of data.

 

[GlendaleViper]

The best part? Ultimately, that drive would likely be placed in a solid wood enclosure and mated with some truly beastly tubes.

Kind of tugs on your Hi-Fi heart strings a little, dunnit?

 

[PiccoloNamek]

It's hard to believe we've gone from that to pocket sized cards that can hold tens of gigabytes. Pretty soon, once holographic storage becomes the norm, we will have hard disks that can hold thousands of terabytes.

And we'll look back and say, "Man, can you believe we used to store information on magnetic platters?"

 

[MetalManCPA]

The most mind-boggling aspect of looking at that 1956 HD is time.

Look where we've come in 50 SHORT years. Sure, if you benchmark 50 years against your own lifespan, then 50 years may seem like a long time. But on an evolution timeline, 50 years is a blip.

So here is a 1956 HD that weighs over a ton and stores 5MB of information. And I wonder what it's cost was? A couple of weeks ago I went to Best Buy and purchased a 1TB HD for $325. Simply mind-boggling.

 

[krmathis]

Thank god storage technology development have gone a long way the last 50 years.

 

[craiglester]

When I was a kid, my step father worked for cable and wireless, doing computer repairs. We had a platter from a Hard drive that was about 3-4 ft across, and made of metal. We used it as a table on the patio. It was hellishly heavy, I think we just left it there when we moved. (would have been late 70's)
Personally I remember the Winchester Hard drives at the Electricity company, and the automated tape loader system they had there - a screen flashed the tape, you went and found it off the racks, and then loaded it and acknowledged the screen. They were terribly proud that they had more than a Gigabyte of storage back then (1987).

 

[Kahuna]

Here's one in operation at the U. S. Army Red River Arsenal.

This from Wikipedia:

"The IBM 305 RAMAC was the first commercial computer that used a moving head hard disk drive (magnetic disk storage) for secondary storage. IBM introduced it on September 4, 1956. RAMAC stood for "Random Access Memory ACcounting System." Its design was motivated by the need to replace the punch card tub file used by most businesses at the time. The first RAMAC to be used in the US auto industry was installed at Chrysler's MOPAR Division in 1957. It replaced a huge tub file which was part of MOPAR's parts inventory control and order processing system. The 305 was one of the last vacuum tube computers that IBM built. The IBM 350 disk system stored 5 million 8-bit (7-bits plus 1 odd parity bit) characters (about 4.4 MB). It had fifty 24-inch diameter disks. Two independent access arms moved up and down to select a disk and in and out to select a recording track, all under servo control. Average time to locate a single record was 600 milliseconds. Several improved models were added in the 1950s. The IBM RAMAC 305 system with 350 disk storage leased for $3,200 per month in 1957 dollars, equivalent to a purchase price of about $160,000. More than 1000 systems were built. Production ended in 1961, the RAMAC computer became obsolete in 1962 when the IBM 1405 Disk Storage Unit for the IBM 1401 was introduced, and the 305 was withdrawn in 1969.
One storage disk.
One storage disk.

During the 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley (USA)IBM provided the first electronic data processing systems for the Games. The system featured an IBM RAMAC 305 computer, punch card data collection, and a central printing facility.

Programming the 305 involved not only writing machine language instructions to be stored on the drum memory, but also almost every unit in the system (including the computer itself) was programmed by inserting wire jumpers into a plug-board.

The original 305 RAMAC computer system could be housed in a room of about 9m (30') by 15m (50'); the 350 disk storage unit measured around 1,5 m2 (5' square). The first hard disk unit was shipped Sept. 13, 1956[1]. The additional components of the computer were a card punch, a central processing unit, a power supply unit, an operator's console/card reader unit, and a printer.

In an interview[2] published in the Wall Street Journal with Currie Munce, research vice president for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, which acquired the IBM's storage business, said the entire RAMAC unit weighed over a ton and had to be moved around with forklifts and delivered via large cargo airplanes. According to Munce, while the storage capacity of the drive could have been increased above five megabytes, the marketing department at IBM was against a larger capacity drive because they didn't know how to sell a product with more storage."

 

[fatcat28037]

The first computer I programmed was an IBM 1403, that was in 1967. It was a full-blown machine, the largest 1403 sold, it had 16K if memory. In the CPU box was 4K, next the the CPU was a cube about 3 feet square and 3 feet high. Inside that box was the other 12K. A cubic yard to hold 12 thousand bytes of memory. So how much RAM do you have in your home computer?

 

[Jon118]

Shoot, the past seven years have seen a lot of improvement. The first Windows 2000 machine my family had, which was bought in 2000, had a 20GB ATA hard-drive. My new laptop has a 160GB serial ATA drive. You can get 1 TB drives now. That is a serious upgrade. I also love the fact that I got a 4 GB USB flash drive for about $30, I don't even have 4 gigs of stuff to put on it.