IBM's 350 RAMAC, the first hard disk drive, was introduced in 1956, weighed roughly one tonne, and stored 5 million characters — under 4 megabytes, less than a single photo from a modern phone — across 50 spinning platters each 24 inches across.
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In 1956, IBM's first hard drive — the 350 RAMAC — weighed roughly one tonne and needed a forklift to move, yet held only 5 million characters: under 4 megabytes of real storage, less than a single phone photo today. (The "5 megabytes" it is often credited with is a raw character count, not usable capacity — the formatted figure is about 3.75 MB.) It spread that data across 50 spinning platters each 24 inches wide. Today a USB stick smaller than your thumb holds over 15,000 times as much. Follow for a new fact every day.
Transcript
The first hard drive was the size of a refrigerator and needed a forklift to move it. In 1956, IBM introduced the 350 RAMAC — a machine that weighed roughly one tonne, about as heavy as a small car. It stored data on 50 spinning metal platters, each 24 inches across — that's wider than a car steering wheel. And after all of that, it held just 5 million characters — under 4 megabytes of real storage, less than a single photo from your phone. Today, a USB stick smaller than your thumb holds over 15,000 times as much. The entire RAMAC had to be leased, not sold, for around 3,200 US dollars a month — nearly 36,000 dollars a month in today's money. So next time your phone storage feels small, remember when one megabyte weighed over 250 kilograms — heavier than three adult men. Follow for a fact every day.
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