IBM's first disk drive, made from Golden Gate bridge paint, rented for $150 per MB per month in 1956.


The metal-oxide paint used on the Golden Gate Bridge was sprayed onto the surface of the first disk drive through borrowed nylon stockings to create an even coating.

24 stacked disks, 2 feet in diameter rotated at high speed to provide 6 megabytes of randomly addressable memory.

In the first test, the disk snapped off its spindle and bounced around the lab like a murderous Frisbee.

The Model 350 computer, incorporating the disk drive, only weighed one ton and was delivered to the 1960 Winter Olympics in a modified cargo jet.

The Guardian of All Things: The Epic Story of Human Memory

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