Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Magnetization
IBM Data Cell

Date:

1964–1975

Material:

Iron oxide on polyester base, plastic shell, metal hardware

Dimensions:

Magnetic sheets 2¼ × 13 in. (57 × 330 mm),   cell 5 × 5 × 16 in. (127 × 127 × 406 mm)

Company:

IBM Corp.

Location:

Armonk, New York, United States

The IBM 2321 Data Cell Drive was an elaborate mass storage device used with the IBM System/360. The drive held ten cells like the one here, arranged to form an upright cylinder. Each data cell in turn held 20 subcells, and each subcell contained ten magnetic sheets. A sheet stored data in 100 tracks. To access data, the cylinder was spun to the appropriate subcell, the subcell was extracted and the magnetic sheet pulled for reading or writing. The entire drive could hold 400 megabytes and as many as eight drives could be hooked up to the System/360. In addition, data cells and individual subcells could be quickly swapped by hand. By the end of its lifetime in 1975, however, it had been overtaken by magnetic disks.

2321 Data Cell drive loaded with 10 Data Cells.
Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
IBM System/360 Component Descriptions, p. 66–72.
Cell removed from protective shell.
Each cell contains 20 subcells.
Each subcell holds ten magnetic sheets.

IBM 2321 Data Cell Drive: Original Equipment Manufacturer's Information (PDF)