Hard Disk Drives (Magnetic Storage)

Electro-mechanical data storage devices using magnetic storage on rotating platters.

Core metadata

ID: hard_disk_drives_magnetic_storage
Era: Modern
First known date: 1956 (exact)
Region: San Jose, California, United States
Review status: source_checked
Maturity: N/A

Prerequisites

Dependents

None.

Fields

None.

Node sources

1956: First commercial hard disk drive shipped (Computer History Museum, 2026, museum) • Supports: node
Locator: The Computer History Museum states that IBM developed and shipped the first commercial hard disk drive, the Model 350 disk storage unit, in June 1956.
RAMAC (IBM, 2026, review) • Supports: node
Locator: IBM describes the IBM 305 RAMAC as the first computer to use a random-access disk drive and the progenitor of later hard disk drives.

Prerequisite edge evidence

Edge/source evidence summary:

Prerequisite edges: 4
Average edge confidence: 68%
Prerequisite sources: 4
expert_inference: 4

Prerequisite	Type	Confidence	Evidence level	Note	Sources
Magnetic Tape Data Storage (magnetic_tape_data_storage)	enabling	68%	expert_inference	Magnetic Tape Data Storage provides a capability that enables this technology without being the only possible path.	1951: Tape Unit Developed for Data Storage (Computer History Museum, 2026, museum) • Supports: edge
Electronics (electronics)	enabling	68%	expert_inference	Electronics provides a capability that enables this technology without being the only possible path.	Diode (IEEE History Center, 2026, museum) • Supports: edge
Precision Machine Tools (precision_machine_tools)	enabling	68%	expert_inference	Precision Machine Tools provides a capability that enables this technology without being the only possible path.	Photomask (Wikipedia, 2026, generic_overview) • Supports: edge
Electric Motor (electric_motor)	enabling	68%	expert_inference	Electric Motor provides a capability that enables this technology without being the only possible path.	The birth of electric motion (Royal Institution, 2021, museum) • Supports: edge

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