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In September 1956, the first hard disc drive – the IBM 350- was introduced. It was part of the IBM 305 RAMAC (random access method of accounting and control) computer. With a size of two fridges standing next to each other (60x68x29”), its weight was about a ton. Despite its size the hard disc was able to store barely 5 MB.
The IBM consisted of fifty 24 inch (61 cm) wide, vertically stacked discs. Also there were only two grapplers that placed the read/ write heads on the desired track. Therefore the access time was 600 milliseconds and the data transfer rate about 1 KB per second.
The IBM 305 RAMAC was rented to companies for ca. 3.200 $ per month.