IBM hard drive from 1981

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3380a

This picture is of an IBM Model 3380 Hard Drive from 1981. Because it looks like a nuclear device or jet engine, I was able to convince my neighbour that I was generating my own nuclear power from now on, as well as the people at the Chrysler convention that it was an electric engine for a transport truck (I was passing them when going to a high school tech presentation at Bingemans where I used this as a fun prop). My pranks know no bounds!

More specifically,

  • It weighs approx. 70kg and barely fits into the trunk of my car.
  • It has a maximum capacity of 2.52GB (this particular drive actually has the maximum capacity).
  • It wwas the first hard drive to breach the 1GB barrier.
  • It sold for a price tag of $140,000US.
  • There are nine disks that rotate in the center of the hard disk - I have one of those disks (removed from another unit):

3380b

But now, this hard drive serves as a fine coffee table in my rec room:

3380c