Introduced in1956, the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) was the first commercial computer that used a moving-head hard disk drive (magnetic disk storage) for secondary storage. One of IBM’s last (first generation) vacuum tube computers, the 305 system consisted of the IBM 305 Processing Unit, IBM 370 Printer, BM 323 Card Punch, IBM 380 Console (containing the card feed, typewriter, keyboard, indicator lights and control keys), IBM 340 Power supply, and the IBM 350 Disk Storage Unit. Before RAMAC, information was entered via IBM punch cards, with answers taking hours or days to calculate. RAMAC, using its IBM 350 Disk Storage Unit, could find data in seconds, alter it, and move on to find a completely different piece of data. More than 1,000 systems were built before becoming obsolete in 1962 when the IBM 1405 Disk Storage Unit for the IBM 1401 computer was introduced. This model represents an early Ramac system.
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