[cctalk] Re: Odd IBM mass storage systems

I remember a concept for a very fast magnetic storage system that didn't become a product, as far as I know. The scheme was to build a large array of heads, using IC-manufacturing type techniques, and mount that array in contact or near-contact with a flat rectangular magnetic plate. The plate (or the heads) could move a small amount in one direction. The idea was "head per sector", with the mechanical motion scanning the sector across the head. Given something like piezo-electric actuators it would have been quite fast. There's a neat document in the CWI archives, a course on computer design from early 1948. It has a section about memories, well before core memory was invented. The schemes it describes are quite curious, including photographic memories, selectrons, and various other schemes. Also drum memories, including the rather mythical notion of a drum spinning at 60,000 rpm.