IBM drum storage

In early computers drum storage consisted of a large metal cylinder coated on the outside surface with a ferromagnetic recording material, to provide random access for stored data. Drums were later largely replaced by the hard disk drive.

Drums were used as main memory by IBM in computers including the IBM 305 and IBM 650; IBM also offered drum devices as secondary storage for the 700/7000 series and System/360 series of computers.

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