Hard Disk Drives and Cartridges

14" Hard Disk Pack

The 14-inch removable disk pack was introduced by IBM in 1962 with the IBM 1311 system. The original IBM 1316 contained six magnetic platters and stored only about two million characters, but the concept became an industry standard and allowed large datasets to be physically exchanged between computers.

14" Hard Disk Cartridge

The 14-inch hard disk cartridge was a more compact alternative to multi-platter disk packs, typically containing a single removable magnetic platter inside a protective enclosure. Early examples such as those used with the IBM 2310 appeared in the 1960s and offered around 1 to 5 MB of storage.

8" Hard Disk Cartridge

As magnetic storage technology became smaller, removable hard disk cartridges also appeared in the 8-inch form factor. They provided considerably more convenient handling than the huge 14-inch media and represent an intermediate stage between early mainframe disk cartridges and the much smaller removable drives of later personal computers.

5.25" Syquest

SyQuest became one of the best-known manufacturers of removable hard disk cartridges during the 1980s and 1990s. Its 5.25-inch cartridge family offered capacities including 44, 88 and 200 MB and was widely used for backup, desktop publishing and transferring large files before recordable CDs became commonplace.

3.5" Syquest

SyQuest later miniaturised its removable hard disk technology into the 3.5-inch form factor, with cartridges such as the 105 MB and 270 MB versions. Like their larger predecessors, they contained a rigid magnetic platter while the precision read/write mechanism remained inside the drive.

3.5" Syquest SparQ

Introduced in 1997, the SyQuest SparQ offered 1 GB of removable storage at a time when Zip disks typically held only 100 MB. Despite its attractive capacity and price, the format had a very short life as SyQuest encountered financial difficulties and ceased operations soon afterwards.

3.5" Iomega Jaz

Introduced in 1996, the Iomega Jaz was a high-capacity companion to the much more successful Zip drive. Its removable cartridges initially stored 1 GB and later 2 GB, using two rigid magnetic platters inside — essentially placing a miniature removable hard disk inside each cartridge.

3.5" Castlewood ORB

The Castlewood ORB was introduced in 1998 by a company founded by former SyQuest employees. Its cartridges initially stored 2.2 GB and later 5.7 GB on a single magnetic platter, making ORB a direct competitor to Iomega Jaz before Castlewood disappeared around 2004.

3,5" Nomai MCD

The Nomai MCD was a French removable hard disk system introduced in the mid-1990s. Its 540 MB cartridges competed with products from SyQuest and Iomega, but like many alternative removable-disk formats of the period, it never achieved widespread adoption.

3.5" Iomega REV

Introduced in 2004, Iomega REV was designed mainly as a fast removable backup medium and a possible alternative to magnetic tape. Unlike RDX, the cartridge contained the magnetic platter while the read/write heads remained inside the REV drive, with capacities increasing during the format's lifetime.

8" Hard Disk Drive

The 8-inch hard disk drive represented a major reduction in size compared with the huge disk systems of the 1960s and 1970s. IBM introduced its 8-inch Piccolo drive in 1979 with a capacity of about 64 MB, helping pave the way toward progressively smaller hard drives. Here presented HDD from Fujitsu (M2344K) from year 1993 offered 690 MB capacity.

5.25" Hard Disk Drive

The 5.25-inch hard drive brought magnetic disk storage into a size suitable for early personal computers. Seagate's ST-506, introduced in 1980, was the first HDD in this form factor and stored 5 MB — tiny by modern standards, but an important milestone in bringing hard disks to desktop computers.

3.5" Hard Disk Drive

The 3.5-inch hard disk became one of the most successful HDD form factors and was used in desktop computers for decades. Increasing recording density transformed drives of this physical size from megabyte devices into products capable of storing multiple terabytes.

2.5" Hard Disk Drive

The smaller 2.5-inch hard disk became the standard mechanical storage format for laptops and other portable computers. Its compact dimensions and lower power requirements later also made it useful in external drives, game consoles and removable storage systems.

1.8" Hard Disk Drive

The tiny 1.8-inch hard disk was developed for ultraportable computers and consumer electronics where even a 2.5-inch drive was too large. Drives of this size were famously used in compact devices such as early digital music players before flash memory eventually replaced miniature HDDs.

1" Hard Disk Drive (Microdrive)

The one-inch Microdrive, introduced by IBM in 1998, squeezed a real spinning hard disk into a package approximately the size of a CompactFlash card. Capacities eventually ranged from hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes, and Microdrives were used in digital cameras, PDAs and portable music players before flash memory made such miniature mechanical drives obsolete.

RDX QuikStor

RDX QuikStor combines the convenience of a removable cartridge with a conventional 2.5-inch hard disk contained completely inside it. Unlike formats such as Iomega REV, the cartridge includes its own read/write mechanism, while the RDX drive essentially acts as a docking station — a design intended primarily for reliable backup and archival use.

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