In 1980, the very first 1 GB hard disk drive was invented and released by IBM. This was a major milestone in data storage technology, as 1 GB of capacity was unheard of at the time. Most personal computers in the early 1980s came with hard drives that were only 5-10 MB in capacity. So a drive with 1 GB – or 1000 MB – represented a quantum leap forward.
What was the first 1 GB hard drive?
The first 1 GB hard disk drive was the IBM 3380, introduced in 1980. It was the size of a household refrigerator and weighed about 550 pounds. The 3380 used large 14-inch platters and recording heads that floated on a thin cushion of air (air bearings) to access data. This allowed greater storage densities than previous hard drives.
Some key specs of the IBM 3380 1 GB drive:
- Capacity: 1 GB (unformatted)
- Physical size: 69 x 32 x 51 inches
- Weight: Approximately 550 pounds
- Technology: Filled with helium, used air bearings
- Data transfer rate: 3 MB/sec
- Average seek time: 12 milliseconds
- Interface: IBM block multiplexer channel
- Price: $40,000 to $70,000
The IBM 3380 was a high-end drive aimed at large business, government, and institutional users that needed immense storage capabilities. Mainframe computers were the primary use case for these drives. At these capacities, the 3380 was not something feasible for a home or personal computer.
Cost of the IBM 3380 1 GB Hard Drive
The IBM 3380 carried a stiff price tag as expected given its cutting edge capacity and enterprise market. Original prices ranged from $40,000 to $70,000 per drive.
Adjusted for inflation, that equates to between $130,000 to $230,000 in 2023 dollars!
While incredibly expensive, large organizations could justify the cost because there were no alternatives for that much storage in one place at the time. The 3380 delivered capabilities that opened new doors and applications.
Price Per Gigabyte
Given the $40,000 to $70,000 price range and 1 GB capacity, the IBM 3380 had an approximate cost per gigabyte of:
- $40,000 to $70,000 per GB
Again adjusting for inflation, that equals:
- $130,000 to $230,000 per GB in 2023 dollars
To put that price per gigabyte into perspective, today you can buy a 1 TB (1000 GB) external hard drive for around $40 at retail. So storage costs have dropped dramatically in the past 40 years.
Manufacturing Costs
One reason the IBM 3380 was so costly was that manufacturing hard drives with such density was extremely challenging for the technology of the time. The mechanical precision required and advanced materials made production expensive.
IBM did not release details on exactly how much it cost them to manufacture each 3380. However given the drive’s complexity and low production volumes, the material and labor costs were likely a significant portion of the sales price.
Early drives were also very failure prone relative to today’s models. So the costs to IBM would have been higher due to lower manufacturing yields and greater service requirements.
Market Competition
For about two years, the IBM 3380 enjoyed a monopoly as the only 1 GB hard drive option on the market. But in 1982, storage competitors Hitachi and Control Data released their own 1 GB drives priced similarly in the $40,000 to $75,000 range.
However, IBM already dominated the mainframe market. So the 3380 maintained its status as the primary choice for high capacity storage, especially among IBM mainframe customers.
Sales Volume
Due to its specialized nature and high cost, IBM did not sell a huge volume of 3380 drives. But for a technology product of this complexity in the early 1980s, it enjoyed relatively healthy sales:
- 1981 (first year) – 174 units sold
- 1982 – 5,000 units sold
- 1983 – 7,200 units sold
Considering the single-user mainframe market the 3380 targeted, this level of sales let IBM recoup its development and manufacturing costs relatively quickly.
Declining Costs Over Time
Like most technology, the cost to produce 1 GB hard drives decreased steadily in the years after the 3380’s introduction. Higher volume manufacturing and advances in materials, engineering, and automation drove down costs.
By the late 1980s, 1 GB drives from IBM and others were selling for $10,000 to $15,000. Still expensive, but significantly cheaper than the original 3380.
This cost trend was a pivotal factor in making gigabyte drives affordable for smaller organizations and early personal computers.
Impact on the Computer Industry
The IBM 3380 marked a major milestone that helped drive adoption of gigabyte-scale storage across the computer industry in the 1980s. Some key impacts include:
- Allowed mainframes to work with dramatically larger databases and applications
- Let minicomputers and early supercomputers benefit from greater capacities
- Inspired development of smaller, cheaper 1 GB drives for emerging smaller computer systems later in the decade
- Helped data centers consolidate storage into fewer, higher capacity drives
- Marked the beginning of the gigabyte hard drive era which continued with releases like the Maxtor MXT-1240 (1240 MB) in 1982
- Set the stage for hard drives to gradually become a standard component in personal computers
While prohibitively expensive for most applications, the trailblazing IBM 3380 removed storage capacity as a major bottleneck for enterprise computing. This gave organizations the headroom to deploy more advanced software, databases, and analytics.
After the 3380 – Continued Increase in Capacities
The IBM 3380 marked the first big jump past the 100 MB limit for drives. After its release, storage technology continued its relentless improvement to deliver ever-greater capacities:
- 1985 – Imprimis releases a 10 GB drive
- 1991 – IBM releases the 0661, a 2.2 GB SCSI drive
- 1997 – IBM releases the Deskstar 16GP “Titan”, the first drive with over 10 GB capacity
- 2000 – Seagate’s Barracuda ATA family reaches 40 GB
- 2007 – Hitachi releases a 1 TB desktop drive, the Deskstar 7K1000
- 2011 – Western Digital ships the first 2 TB hard drive
Today, consumer hard drives with 14 TB+ of capacity are available for around $300. That is a radical improvement from a million dollars for 1 GB of storage in 1980!
Collectability Today
Given its historical significance, vintage IBM 3380 drives are sought after by computer history collectors and museums today. Operational drives in good cosmetic condition can fetch $5,000 to $10,000 at auction depending on accessories included.
Even non-working 3380 units are collectable, with prices ranging from $500 to a few thousand dollars on the vintage computing market.
Besides the IBM 3380, other milestone high capacity drives from the 1980s like the Control Data 9715 and 9730 are also popular collector’s items today.
Conclusion
The IBM 3380 hard drive introduced in 1980 marked a major milestone as the first gigabyte-capacity drive for enterprise data centers. Priced from $40,000 to $70,000, it carried a huge cost but delivered unprecedented storage capabilities.
Adjusted for inflation, the drive would cost $130,000 to $230,000 in 2023 dollars. The 3380’s introduction marked the dawn of the era where drives with multiple gigabytes of capacity became feasible. While no reasonable for smaller computers at the time, this innovation pointed towards a future where large cheap hard drives would be standard for all systems.
