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Hardware Detail

Item Reference:
HW0145    
Machine Type:
62GV
Serial Number:
  Gulliver 5MB / 10MB / 14MB disk drive
  Gulliver, the IBM 62GV, was developed in Hursley and was first shipped May 1974 with an initial capacity of 5MB. Later models could hold 10MB and 14MB.

Storage Development engineers wanted to increase reliablity, as well as reduce the physical size and cost of drives. They came up with the idea of the rotary actuator. The rotary actuator tracked the heads over its single 14 inch platter, and was the first HDD to use this technology. Although other parts of IBM stuck stubbornly to the linear actuator, eventually size and cost won and today all hard drives use the rotary actuator.

There were two heads on the actuator on the top surface and 8 fixed heads on the inner half of the lower surface. The rotation speed was 2964 rpm using a standard AC motor connected to the disk spindle by a belt. Tracks per inch (TPI): 167. Bits per inch (BPI): 5650.

Total shipments over the life of the product reached 177,000 at February 1990, the first hard disk known to have shipped in excess of 100,000 units.

Gulliver was used in the IBM 3600, 3790 and 3730
Date of Origin:
1974
Donor:

62GV

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Location:
On Display - HLG03 Commissioned By: Museum Until: