Shipped in September 1956, the first 5MB hard disk unit weighed over a ton (approximately 2,200 pounds) and was used in the IBM 305 RAMAC, the first commercial computer to feature a moving-head ...

The first commercial hard disk drive was introduced in 1956 as part of the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) system, featuring the IBM Model 350 disk storage unit (US ...

which was designed to work with the IBM 305 RAMAC mainframe computer. The IBM 350 Disk File weighed about one ton, and stored up to 5 million characters of data on 50 spinning disks. Jim Porter ...