History of hard disks
Encyclopedia
In 1953 IBM
recognized the immediate application for what it termed a "Random Access File" having high capacity and rapid random access at a relatively low cost. After considering technologies such as wire matrices, rod arrays, drums, drum arrays, etc., the engineers at IBM's San Jose California laboratory invented the hard disk drive. The disk drive created a new level in the computer data hierarchy, then termed Random Access Storage but today known as secondary storage, less expensive and slower than main memory (then typically drums
) but faster and more expensive than tape drives.
The commercial usage of hard disk drives began in 1956 with the shipment of an IBM 305 RAMAC system including IBM Model 350 disk storage.
Each generation of disk drives replaced larger, more sensitive and more cumbersome devices. The earliest drives were usable only in the protected environment of a data center
. Later generations progressively reached factories, offices and homes, eventually reaching ubiquity.
Disk media diameter was nominally 8 or and were typically mounted in standalone boxes (resembling washing machine
s) or large equipment rack enclosures. Individual drives often required high-current
AC
power due to the large motors required to spin the large disks. Hard disk drives were not commonly used with microcomputers until after 1980, when Seagate Technology
introduced the ST-506
, the first 5.25 inches (13.3 cm) drive.
The capacity of hard drives has grown exponentially over time. When hard drives became available for personal computers, they offered 5-megabyte
capacity. During the mid-1990s the typical hard disk drive for a PC had a capacity of about 1 gigabyte
. As of July 2010, desktop hard disk drives typically had a capacity of 500 to 1000 gigabyte
s, while the largest-capacity drives were 4 terabyte
s.
The IBM 350 Disk File, invented by Reynold Johnson
, was introduced in 1956 with the IBM 305 RAMAC computer. This drive had fifty 24 inch (0.6096 m) platters, with a total capacity of five million characters. A single head assembly having two heads was used for access to all the platters, yielding an average access time
of just under 1 second.
The IBM 1301 Disk Storage Unit, announced in 1961, introduced the usage of a Disk read-and-write headhead| for each data surface with the heads having self acting air bearings (flying heads).
Also in 1961, Bryant Computer Products introduced its 4000 series disk drives. These massive units stood 52 inches (1.3 m) tall, 70 inches (1.8 m) wide, and had up to 26 platters, each 39 inch (0.9906 m) in diameter, rotating at up to 1,200 rpm. Access times were from 50 to 205 milliseconds (ms). The drive's total capacity, depending on the number of platters installed, was up to 205,377,600 bytes, or 196 MiB.
The first disk drive to use removable media was the IBM 1311 drive, which used the IBM 1316 disk pack to store two million characters.
In 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3340 "Winchester" disk drive, the first significant commercial use of low mass and low load heads with lubricated platters. This technology and its derivatives remained the standard through 2011. Project head Kenneth Haughton named it after the Winchester 30-30 rifle because it was planned to have two 30 MB spindles; however, the actual product shipped with two spindles for data modules of either 35 MB or 70 MB. The name 'Winchester' and some derivatives are still common in some non-English speaking countries to generally refer to any hard disks (e.g. Hungary
, Russia
).
Also in 1973, Control Data Corporation
introduced the first of its series of SMD
disk drives using conventional disk pack technology. The SMD family became the predominant disk drive in the minicomputer market into the 1980s.
Most hard disk drives in the early 1980s were sold to PC end users by Systems Integrators
such as the Corvus Disk System or the systems manufacturer such as the Apple ProFile
. The IBM PC/XT in 1983 included an internal standard 10MB hard disk drive, and soon thereafter internal hard disk drives proliferated on personal computers.
External hard disk drives remained popular for much longer on the Apple Macintosh. Every Mac made between 1986 and 1998 had a SCSI
port on the back, making external expansion easy; also, "toaster" Compact Macs
did not have easily accessible hard drive bay
s (or, in the case of the Mac Plus, any hard drive bay at all), so on those models, external SCSI disks were the only reasonable option.
As of 2011, virtually all of the world's HDDs were manufactured by five large companies: Seagate
, Western Digital
, Toshiba
, Samsung
and Hitachi (HGST). As of late 2011, Western Digital was attempting to acquire HGST and Seagate was attempting to acquire Samsung's disk unit.
The market has continued to consolidate
since the 1980s as dozens of manufacturers exited or were acquired. The first notable casualty in the PC era was Computer Memories Inc.
or CMI; after an incident with faulty 20MB AT disks in 1985, CMI's reputation never recovered, and they exited the HDD business in 1987. Another notable failure was MiniScribe
, which went bankrupt in 1990 after it was found that they had engaged in accounting fraud and inflated sales numbers for several years. Many other smaller companies (like Kalok
, Microscience, LaPine, Areal, Priam, and PrairieTek) also did not survive the shakeout
, and had disappeared by 1993; Micropolis was able to hold on until 1997, and JTS
, a relative latecomer, lasted only a few years and was gone by 1999, after attempting to manufacture in India. JTS originated a 3″ form factor
for use in laptop
computers. Quantum and Integral also invested in the 3″ form factor; but the form factor failed to catch on. Rodime
was an important manufacturer during the 1980s, but stopped making disks in the early 1990s to concentrate on technology licensing; they hold a number of patents related to 3.5-inch form factor HDDs.
The following is the genealogy of the remaining participants:
In 2011, based on market research firm IDC
, the biggest hard drive makers were Seagate
Technology PLC and Western Digital
Corp., but the largest national producer was China, followed by Thailand
which makes about a quarter of the world's hard drives. The concentration of hard disk drive producers in only a few countries made the supply vulnerable to disruptions like the 2011 Thailand floods
.
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
recognized the immediate application for what it termed a "Random Access File" having high capacity and rapid random access at a relatively low cost. After considering technologies such as wire matrices, rod arrays, drums, drum arrays, etc., the engineers at IBM's San Jose California laboratory invented the hard disk drive. The disk drive created a new level in the computer data hierarchy, then termed Random Access Storage but today known as secondary storage, less expensive and slower than main memory (then typically drums
Drum memory
Drum memory is a magnetic data storage device and was an early form of computer memory widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s, invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria....
) but faster and more expensive than tape drives.
The commercial usage of hard disk drives began in 1956 with the shipment of an IBM 305 RAMAC system including IBM Model 350 disk storage.
Each generation of disk drives replaced larger, more sensitive and more cumbersome devices. The earliest drives were usable only in the protected environment of a data center
Data center
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
. Later generations progressively reached factories, offices and homes, eventually reaching ubiquity.
Disk media diameter was nominally 8 or and were typically mounted in standalone boxes (resembling washing machine
Washing machine
A washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...
s) or large equipment rack enclosures. Individual drives often required high-current
Current
- Science and Mathematics :* Electric current* Current , including** Ocean currents** Air currents** Current - currents in rivers and streams* Current density, mathematical concept unifying electric current, fluid current, and others...
AC
AC
AC or Ac may refer to:* Air conditioning, the mechanical process of cooling air in enclosed spaces* Air conditioner, a machine that produces cool air* Anarcho-capitalism, a form of free-market anarchism...
power due to the large motors required to spin the large disks. Hard disk drives were not commonly used with microcomputers until after 1980, when Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
introduced the ST-506
ST-506
The ST-506 was the first 5.25 inch hard disk drive. Introduced in 1980 by Seagate Technology , it stored up to 5 megabytes after formatting and cost $1500. The similar 10 MB ST-412 was introduced in late 1981. Both used MFM encoding...
, the first 5.25 inches (13.3 cm) drive.
The capacity of hard drives has grown exponentially over time. When hard drives became available for personal computers, they offered 5-megabyte
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
capacity. During the mid-1990s the typical hard disk drive for a PC had a capacity of about 1 gigabyte
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
. As of July 2010, desktop hard disk drives typically had a capacity of 500 to 1000 gigabyte
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
s, while the largest-capacity drives were 4 terabyte
Terabyte
The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes...
s.
1950s–1970s
Reynold B. Johnson
Reynold B. Johnson was an American inventor and computer pioneer. A long-time employee of IBM, Johnson is said to be the "father" of the disk drive...
, was introduced in 1956 with the IBM 305 RAMAC computer. This drive had fifty 24 inch (0.6096 m) platters, with a total capacity of five million characters. A single head assembly having two heads was used for access to all the platters, yielding an average access time
Access time
Access time is the time delay or latency between a request to an electronic system, and the access being completed or the requested data returned....
of just under 1 second.
The IBM 1301 Disk Storage Unit, announced in 1961, introduced the usage of a Disk read-and-write headhead| for each data surface with the heads having self acting air bearings (flying heads).
Also in 1961, Bryant Computer Products introduced its 4000 series disk drives. These massive units stood 52 inches (1.3 m) tall, 70 inches (1.8 m) wide, and had up to 26 platters, each 39 inch (0.9906 m) in diameter, rotating at up to 1,200 rpm. Access times were from 50 to 205 milliseconds (ms). The drive's total capacity, depending on the number of platters installed, was up to 205,377,600 bytes, or 196 MiB.
The first disk drive to use removable media was the IBM 1311 drive, which used the IBM 1316 disk pack to store two million characters.
In 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3340 "Winchester" disk drive, the first significant commercial use of low mass and low load heads with lubricated platters. This technology and its derivatives remained the standard through 2011. Project head Kenneth Haughton named it after the Winchester 30-30 rifle because it was planned to have two 30 MB spindles; however, the actual product shipped with two spindles for data modules of either 35 MB or 70 MB. The name 'Winchester' and some derivatives are still common in some non-English speaking countries to generally refer to any hard disks (e.g. Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
).
Also in 1973, Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
introduced the first of its series of SMD
Storage Module Device
Storage Module Device was a family of storage devices first shipped by Control Data Corporation in December 1973 as the CDC 9760 40 MB storage module disk drive. The CDC 9762 80 MB variant was announced in June 1974 and the CDC 9764 150 MB and the CDC 9766 300 MB variants were announced in 1975...
disk drives using conventional disk pack technology. The SMD family became the predominant disk drive in the minicomputer market into the 1980s.
1980s, the PC era
As the 1980s began, hard disk drives were a rare and very expensive optional feature on personal computers (PCs); however by the late '80s, hard disk drives were standard on all but the cheapest PC.Most hard disk drives in the early 1980s were sold to PC end users by Systems Integrators
System integrator
A systems integrator is a person or company that specializes in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as System Integration...
such as the Corvus Disk System or the systems manufacturer such as the Apple ProFile
Apple ProFile
The ProFile was the first hard drive produced by Apple Computer, initially for use with the Apple III personal computer. The original model had a formatted capacity of 5 MB and connected to a special interface card that plugged into an Apple III slot...
. The IBM PC/XT in 1983 included an internal standard 10MB hard disk drive, and soon thereafter internal hard disk drives proliferated on personal computers.
External hard disk drives remained popular for much longer on the Apple Macintosh. Every Mac made between 1986 and 1998 had a SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
port on the back, making external expansion easy; also, "toaster" Compact Macs
Compact Macintosh
"Compact Macintosh" or "Classic Macintosh" are informal terms that refer to the direct descendants of the original Macintosh personal computer case design by Apple Computer, Inc. All of them are all-in-one desktop computer designs with the display integrated in the computer case, but not the...
did not have easily accessible hard drive bay
Drive bay
A drive bay is a standard-sized area for adding hardware to a computer. Most drive bays are fixed to the inside of a case, but some can be removed....
s (or, in the case of the Mac Plus, any hard drive bay at all), so on those models, external SCSI disks were the only reasonable option.
Timeline
- 1956 – IBM 350, first commercial disk drive, 5 million characters
- 1961 – IBM 1301 Disk Storage Unit introduced with one head per surface and aerodynamic flying heads, 28 million characters per module
- 1962 – IBM 1311 introduced removable disk packs containing 6 disks, storing 2 million characters per pack
- 1964 – IBM 2311 with 7.25 megabytes per disk pack
- 1964 – IBM 2310 removable cartridge disk drive with 1.02 MB on one disk
- 1965 – IBM 2314 with 11 disks and 29 MB per disk pack
- 1968 – MemorexMemorexMemorex began as a computer tape producer and expanded to become a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It is now a consumer electronics brand of Imation specializing in disk recordable media for CD and DVD drives, flash memory, computer accessories and other electronics.Established in...
is first to ship an IBM-plug-compatible disk drive - 1970 – IBM 3330 Merlin, introduced error correction, 100 MB per disk pack
- 1973 – IBM 3340 Winchester introduced removable sealed disk packs that included head and arm assembly, 35 or 70 MB per pack
- 1973 – CDC SMDStorage Module DeviceStorage Module Device was a family of storage devices first shipped by Control Data Corporation in December 1973 as the CDC 9760 40 MB storage module disk drive. The CDC 9762 80 MB variant was announced in June 1974 and the CDC 9764 150 MB and the CDC 9766 300 MB variants were announced in 1975...
announced and shipped, 40 MB disk pack - 1979 – IBM 3370 introduced thin film heads, 571 MB, non-removable
- 1980 – The world's first gigabyte-capacity disk drive, the IBM 3380, was the size of a refrigerator, weighed 550 pounds (about 250 kg), and had a price tag of $40,000, 2.52 GB
- 1980 – ST-506ST-506The ST-506 was the first 5.25 inch hard disk drive. Introduced in 1980 by Seagate Technology , it stored up to 5 megabytes after formatting and cost $1500. The similar 10 MB ST-412 was introduced in late 1981. Both used MFM encoding...
first 5 1/4 inch drive released with capacity of 5 megabytes, cost $1500 - 1986 – Standardization of SCSI
- 1989 – Jimmy Zhu and H. Neal Bertram from UCSD proposed exchange decoupled granular microstructure for thin film disk storage media, still used today.
- 1991 – 2.5-inch 100 megabyte hard drive
- 1991 – PRML Technology (Digital Read Channel with 'Partial Response Maximum Likelihood' algorithm)
- 1992 – first 1.3-inch hard-disk drive – HP KittyhawkHP Kittyhawk microdriveHewlett-Packard HP3013/3014, nicknamed Kittyhawk, was a hard disk drive introduced by Hewlett-Packard in June 1992.It was the first ever commercially produced hard drive in a 1.3 inch form factor. The original implementation had the capacity of 20 MB. A 40 MB model called Kittyhawk II was...
- 1993 – IBM 3390 model 9, the last Single Large Expensive Disk drive announced by IBM
- 1994 – IBM introduces Laser Textured Landing Zones (LZT)
- 1996 – IBM introduces GMR (Giant Magnetoresistance) Technology for read sensors
- 1997 – Seagate introduces the first hard drive with fluid bearings
- 1998 – UltraDMA/33 and ATAPI standardized
- 1999 – IBM releases the MicrodriveMicrodriveMicrodrive is a brand name for a miniature, 1-inch hard disk designed to fit in a CompactFlash Type II slot. The release of similar drives by other makers has led to them often being referred to as 'microdrives'...
in 170 MB and 340 MB capacities
- 2002 – 137 GB addressing space barrier broken
- 2003 – Serial ATASerial ATASerial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
introduced - 2003 – IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
sells disk drive division to Hitachi - 2005 – First 500 GB hard drive shipping (Hitachi GST)
- 2005 – Serial ATA 3Gbit/s standardized
- 2005 – Seagate introduces Tunnel MagnetoResistive Read Sensor (TMR) and Thermal Spacing Control
- 2005 – Introduction of faster SAS (Serial Attached SCSISerial Attached SCSISerial Attached SCSI is a computer bus used to move data to and from computer storage devices such as hard drives and tape drives. SAS depends on a point-to-point serial protocol that replaces the parallel SCSI bus technology that first appeared in the mid 1980s in data centers and workstations,...
) - 2005 – First Perpendicular recordingPerpendicular recordingPerpendicular recording is a technology for data recording on hard disks. It was first proven advantageous in 1976 by Shun-ichi Iwasaki, then professor of the Tohoku University in Japan, and first commercially implemented in 2005.-Advantages:Perpendicular recording can deliver more than three...
HDD shipped: ToshibaToshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
1.8-inch 40/80 GB - 2006 – First 750 GB hard drive (SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
) - 2006 – First 200 GB 2.5" hard drive utilizing Perpendicular recordingPerpendicular recordingPerpendicular recording is a technology for data recording on hard disks. It was first proven advantageous in 1976 by Shun-ichi Iwasaki, then professor of the Tohoku University in Japan, and first commercially implemented in 2005.-Advantages:Perpendicular recording can deliver more than three...
(ToshibaToshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
) - 2006 – FujitsuFujitsuis a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
develops heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMRHAMRHeat-assisted magnetic recording is a technology that magnetically records data on high-stability media using laser thermal assistance to first heat the material. HAMR takes advantage of high-stability magnetic compounds such as iron platinum alloy...
) that could one day achieve one terabit per square inch densities. - 2007 – First 1 terabyte hard drive (Hitachi GST)
- 2008 – First 1.5 terabyte hard drive (SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
) - 2009 – First 2.0 terabyte hard drive (Western DigitalWestern DigitalWestern Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
) - 2010 – First 3.0 terabyte hard drive (SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
, Western DigitalWestern DigitalWestern Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
) - 2010 – First Hard Drive Manufactured by using the Advanced FormatAdvanced FormatAdvanced Format is a generic term pertaining to any sector format used to store data on the magnetic disks in hard disk drives that exceeds 512 to 520 bytes per sector. Advanced Format is also considered a milestone technology in the history of hard-drive storage, where data has been processed in...
of 4 KiB a block instead of 512 bytes a block - 2011 – First 4.0 terabyte hard drive (SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
)
Manufacturing history
As of 2011, virtually all of the world's HDDs were manufactured by five large companies: Seagate
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
, Western Digital
Western Digital
Western Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
and Hitachi (HGST). As of late 2011, Western Digital was attempting to acquire HGST and Seagate was attempting to acquire Samsung's disk unit.
The market has continued to consolidate
Consolidation (business)
Consolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...
since the 1980s as dozens of manufacturers exited or were acquired. The first notable casualty in the PC era was Computer Memories Inc.
Computer Memories Inc.
Computer Memories Inc. was a Chatsworth, California manufacturer of hard disks during the early 1980s. CMI made basic stepper motor-based drives, with low cost in mind....
or CMI; after an incident with faulty 20MB AT disks in 1985, CMI's reputation never recovered, and they exited the HDD business in 1987. Another notable failure was MiniScribe
MiniScribe
MiniScribe was a manufacturer of disk storage products, founded in Longmont, Colorado in 1980. MiniScribe designed and sold stepper motor-based hard disk drives with a large amount of onboard intelligence for the time. They eventually moved into higher-profile voice coil motor designs, at which...
, which went bankrupt in 1990 after it was found that they had engaged in accounting fraud and inflated sales numbers for several years. Many other smaller companies (like Kalok
Kalok
Kalok was a hard disk drive manufacturer which went bankrupt in 1994.One of their last offerings was a 100 megabyte 3.5" disk drive using a stepper motor head actuator and was very limited in both access speed and reliability...
, Microscience, LaPine, Areal, Priam, and PrairieTek) also did not survive the shakeout
Shakeout
Shakeout is a term used in business and economics to describe the consolidation of an industry or sector, in which businesses are eliminated or acquired through competition...
, and had disappeared by 1993; Micropolis was able to hold on until 1997, and JTS
JT Storage
JT Storage was a maker of inexpensive IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California...
, a relative latecomer, lasted only a few years and was gone by 1999, after attempting to manufacture in India. JTS originated a 3″ form factor
Form factor
Form factor may refer to:*Form factor or emissivity, the proportion of energy transmitted by that object which can be transferred to another object...
for use in laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
computers. Quantum and Integral also invested in the 3″ form factor; but the form factor failed to catch on. Rodime
Rodime
Rodime was an electronics company specialising in hard disks, based in Glenrothes, Scotland. It was founded in 1979 by several Scottish and American former employees of Burroughs Corporation and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1986, becoming Rodime PLC....
was an important manufacturer during the 1980s, but stopped making disks in the early 1990s to concentrate on technology licensing; they hold a number of patents related to 3.5-inch form factor HDDs.
The following is the genealogy of the remaining participants:
- 1967: Hitachi enters the HDD business.
- 1967: Toshiba enters the HDD business.
- 1979: Seagate TechnologySeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
founded. - 1988: Western DigitalWestern DigitalWestern Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
, then a well-known controller designer, enters the HDD business by acquiring Tandon CorporationTandon CorporationTandon Corporation was a disk drive and PC manufacturer founded in the mid-1970s by "Jugi" Tandon. The company's original purpose was to provide magnetic read-write heads for the then-burgeoning floppy-drive market. Due to the labor-intensive nature of the product, production was carried out in...
's disk manufacturing division. - 1988: Samsung enters the worldwide HDD market, previously having manufactured Comport disk drives for the Korean market.
- 1989: Seagate TechnologySeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
purchases Control DataControl Data CorporationControl Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
's HDD business. - 1990: Maxtor purchases MiniScribeMiniScribeMiniScribe was a manufacturer of disk storage products, founded in Longmont, Colorado in 1980. MiniScribe designed and sold stepper motor-based hard disk drives with a large amount of onboard intelligence for the time. They eventually moved into higher-profile voice coil motor designs, at which...
out of bankruptcy, making it the core of its low-end HDDs. - 1994: Quantum purchases DECDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
's storage division, giving it a high-end disk range to go with its more consumer-oriented ProDrive range. - 1996: Seagate acquires Conner PeripheralsConner PeripheralsConner Peripherals was a company that manufactured hard drives for personal computers. Conner Peripherals was founded in 1985 by Seagate Technology co-founder Finis Conner but it in itself never produced a product. In 1986 Conner Peripherals merged with CoData, started by MiniScribe founders Terry...
in a merger. - 2000: Maxtor acquires Quantum's HDD business; Quantum remains in the tape business.
- 2003: Hitachi acquires the majority of IBM's disk division, renaming it Hitachi Global Storage TechnologiesHitachi Global Storage TechnologiesHitachi Global Storage Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., it is expected to be sold to Western Digital in third calendar quarter 2011. Hitachi GST developed hard disk drives, enterprise-class solid state drives, and external storage solutions and services used to store,...
(HGST). - 2006: SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
acquires MaxtorMaxtorMaxtor Corporation, founded in 1982 and acquired by Seagate Technology in 2006, was an American manufacturer of computer hard disk drives, the third largest in the world immediately prior to acquisition...
. - 2009: ToshibaToshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
acquires FujitsuFujitsuis a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
's HDD division. - 2011: Western DigitalWestern DigitalWestern Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
proposes acquiring HitachiHitachiHitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
's HDD division. - 2011: SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
proposes acquiring SamsungSamsungThe Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
's HDD division.
In 2011, based on market research firm IDC
IDC
-Businesses and organizations:* Industrial Development Corporation, also known as Castle Grande, an Arkansas company involved in the Whitewater political controversy* Interactive Data Corporation , a financial services company...
, the biggest hard drive makers were Seagate
Seagate
Seagate may refer to:*Seagate Technology, a manufacturer of computer hard disks*Seagate, Brooklyn, a community in Brooklyn, New York City, USA** East Coast Seagate Distribution, a comic book distributor named after the Brooklyn community...
Technology PLC and Western Digital
Western Digital
Western Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
Corp., but the largest national producer was China, followed by Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
which makes about a quarter of the world's hard drives. The concentration of hard disk drive producers in only a few countries made the supply vulnerable to disruptions like the 2011 Thailand floods
2011 Thailand floods
Major floods are occurring during the 2011 monsoon season in Thailand, most severely in the Chao Phraya but also in the Mekong River basin. Beginning in late July and continuing for over three months, the floods have caused 602 reported deaths by early November, affected over 2.3 million people,...
.