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After exploring various technologies, including wire matrices and rod arrays, IBM invented the hard disk drive in 1953 at its San Jose, California, lab. Initially, the technology was referred to as a "Random Access File." It proved to be less expensive but slower than drum memory, while being faster and more expensive than tape drives.
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 Patent 3,503,060). This groundbreaking drive offered 5MB of storage at $10,000 per MB.
At the time, customers would pay over $3,200 per month to access and store information, as IBM leased its systems instead of selling them. Adjusted for inflation, that's equivalent to over $31,000 per month in 2021. Three generations of RAMAC drives were developed, with capacity doubling in each generation.
The IBM 305 RAMAC comprised 50 24-inch disk platters housed in a large, boxy cabinet, which resembled washing machines – a far cry from today's 3.5" or 2.5" disk drives, let alone solid state drives which are coming in the even smaller M.2 form factor.
IBM's invention of the hard disk drive revolutionized data storage by allowing random access to data, as opposed to the sequential access used by earlier storage methods like magnetic tape. This capability laid the foundation for modern data storage systems, making the IBM 305 RAMAC release a pivotal moment in computing history.
The era of real-time data processing enabled industries like banking, airlines, and government agencies to manage vast amounts of data more effectively – even if storage capacity was a minuscule 5 MB – it was a revolutionary leap at the time.