data stored in moving rust, was Re: Remembering RAMAC

Tom> Rotating magnetic drum memories were certainly in use by 1948. Tom> Surely, other forms of rotation are obvious enough. And it's not Tom> like people weren't looking for storage then! Take a look at the technical papers in http://www.magneticdiskheritagecenter.org/MDHC/1956%20PUBLICATIONS/ -- and for that matter other material on that site. It's not well organized but it does have interesting content. Keep in mind that drums were head per track devices. A big part of the innovation here is the moving head actuator. Other aspects are questions like "can you make disks spin close enough to true?", "can you coat disks with iron oxide smoothly enough?" and other questions that were unanswered problems at the time. Remember, doing something the first time often requires genius. Doing something later often requires only basic craftmanship. Today, you and I could build a RAMAC clone in the garage workshop, with care and good workmanship. (Hey, that would be a neat project!) But that doesn't mean the original inventors deserve any less credit for serious innovation. paul