It was 50 years ago today, that IBM launched their RAMAC (Random Access Memory for Accounting and Control) 305 and RAMAC 350. The RAMAC systems were IBM’s first attempt to store information on a disk. The original hard drive even had a party Tuesday night in its honor, and the museum that is housing it currently says that they want to restore the RAMAC to working condition. I have no clue what they would do with that astounding 5MB of storage space, but, ya know, go them.

So kiss your computer, it’s his great-great-great-great-etc-grandfather’s birthday today.

The hard disk drive turns 50 [Infoworld]