IBM announced the world’s first HDD, the 3.75MB RAMAC 350 disk storage unit, 69 years ago today — unit weighed more than a ton, 50 platters ran at 1,200 RPM

IBM RAMAC computer and magnetic disk-based storage.

HDDs aren’t dead yet, and thus today we can celebrate the aging spinning rust data storage medium’s 69^th birthday. On this day in 1956, IBM announced the RAMAC 350 Disk Storage Unit, packing an awe-inspiring 3.75MB of data across 50 magnetic platters, each spanning 24-inches in diameter and spinning at 1,200 RPM. This magnetic disk-based storage, which earned the nickname the ‘baloney slicer,’ was designed to partner with IBM’s RAMAC 305 mainframe vacuum-tube based computer system.

RAMAC is short for Random Access Method of Accounting and Control. The IBM RAMAC 305 computer system paired with the 350 disk, for its high speed random access to information, and delivery of “exponentially faster” performance and efficiency vs prior storage technologies.