List of defunct hard disk manufacturers

At least 223 companies have manufactured hard disk drives.[1] Most of that industry has vanished through bankruptcy or mergers and acquisitions. None of the first four entrants continue in the industry today.[2] Only three manufacturers have survived: Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital (WD)—all of whom grew at least in part through mergers and acquisitions.

Diagram of consolidation

Partial list of defunct manufacturers

Some of the defunct manufacturers include:

• Alps America[3]
• Amcodyne[4]
• Ampex[4]
• Anelex Corp.[2]
• Areal Technology[4] – acquired by Tomen Corp in 1993[5]
• Atashi Technology, Inc.[3]
• Aura Associates[4]
• Avatar Systems[4]
• BASF[4]
• Brand Technologies[3]
• Bryant Computer Products[2][4]
• Bull[3]
• Burroughs Corporation[4][6] – merged with Sperry Corporation to form Unisys in 1986
• C. Itoh Electronics[3]
• Castlewood Systems
• Caelus Memories, Inc.[7]
• CalComp[4]
• Calluna Technologies[4]
• Cardiff[3]
• Century Data[4]
• Cogito[3]
• Comport[4]
• Computer Memories Inc.[4] (CMI) – left industry in 1986[8]
• Computer Memory Devices, Inc.[9]
• Conner Peripherals[4] – merged with Seagate in 1996
• Control Data Corporation (CDC) / Imprimis Technology[4] – sold hard disk drive business to Seagate in 1989
• Cornice LLC – bankrupt in 2007[10]
• Data General Corporation
• Data Products Corp.[2][4]
• Data Recording Instruments[4] (DRI)
• Data Tech Memories[3]
• Diablo Systems[4][11] - became Diablo Data Systems in 1972
• Digital Equipment Corporation[4] (DEC) – sold hard disk drive business to Quantum Corporation in 1994
• Disc Tech One[3]
• Disctron[3]
• DMA[3]
• DZU (of Bulgaria)[4] – converted from government-owned to private, and sold to Videoton (company) in 1999
• Ecol. 2[3]
• Emulex[3]
• Epson[3]
• Espert[3]
• ExcelStor Technology – left industry
• Fuji Electric[4]
• Fujitsu[4] – HDD division acquired by Toshiba in July 2009[12]
• General Electric (GE)[4]
• Gigastorage[4]
• GS Magicstor, Inc. – manufacturing 1-inch drives
• Hewlett-Packard[13] (HP) - 1976 to 1996, left industry
• Hitachi Global Storage Technologies[4] (HGST) – 2002 merger of Hitachi and IBM disk drive businesses, sold to Western Digital in 2012 with part of 3.5″ manufacturing facilities going to Toshiba[14][15][16][17]
• Hokushin Electric Works[4]
• Honeywell Bull[4][11]
• Hyosung[3]
• IBM[2][4] – hard disk drive business acquired by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in 2002
• Information Storage Systems[4] Acquired by Itel, then Univac and finally CDC[18]
• Integral Peripherals[4] – first rigid 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998
• International Memories, Inc. (IMI) Discontinued manufacturing in early 1985.[19]
• Iomec[11]
• Iomega[4] – left industry
• ISOT/ИЗОТ (of Bulgaria)[nb 1]
• Josephine County Technology (JCT)[3] Ceased manufacturing in 1988.[20]
• JT Storage[4] (JTS) – bankrupt in 1999
• JVC[4] – left industry
• Kalok[4] – bankrupt in 1994
• Kyocera Electronics, Inc.[3]
• LaPine Technologies[4]
• Librascope[21]
• Marshall Laboratories[4]
• Matsushita[4] - left industry in 2004
• Maxtor[4] – acquired by Seagate in 2006
• Memorex[4] – acquired by Burroughs 1981 and then merged into Unisys 1986; HDD division shut down in 1988
• Microcomputer Memories[4] – Chapter 7 bancrutpcy in 1987[22]
• Micropolis Corporation[4] – bankrupt in 1997
• Microscience International[4] – bankrupt in 1992
• MiniScribe[4] – bankrupt and then acquired by Maxtor in 1990
• Ministor Peripherals[4] – first mobile 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998
• Mitsubishi[4] – left industry
• Mitsumi Electronics Corporation[3]
• NCR Corporation[3]
• NEC[4] – left industry
• Newberry Data[3]
• Nippon Electric Industry Co. Ltd. (NEI) AKA as Densei in Japan was 34.5% owned by NEC. Stopped manufacturing HDDs in December 1986.[23]
• Nippon Peripherals (NPL) [4]
• Nomaï[4]
• Okidata[3]
• Olivetti[4]
• Orca Technology Corporation[3]
• Otari 1982-1986[24]
• Pertec Computer[25]
• Philips[4]
• Plus Development – Subsidiary of Quantum; created Hardcard; absorbed back into Quantum 1992
• Potter Instrument[4][11]
• PrairieTek[4] – first 2.5" rigid HDD; bankrupt in 1991
• Priam Corporation[4] – 1978-1989, became Priam Systems Corporation in 1990 and sold product line to Prima International in 1991
• Peripheral Technology, Inc. (PTI)[3]
• Quantum Corporation[4] – sold hard disk drive business to Maxtor in 2001
• Raymond Engineering[4]
• Ricoh[3]
• Rodime[4] – first 3.5" rigid HDD;[4] shut down manufacturing in 1991; licensed its patents until the patent business was sold for $1.5M in July 2003. The company was then the subject of a reverse merger and became Sportech PLC.
• Rotating Memory Systems, Inc. (RMS) Acquired by CCT in 1982 [26]
• Sagem[4]
• Samsung[4] – HDD business acquired by Seagate for $1.4 billion in 2011[27]
• Seiko Epson[4]
• Sequel[4]
• Shugart Associates – Acquired by Xerox in 1977 and shut down in 1986.
• Siemens[4]
• Sony[4]
• Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK) – left industry
• Syquest[4] – bankrupt in 1998; some patents acquired by Iomega. Re-emerged selling cartridges for their previously-discontinued products.
• Tandon Corporation[4] – acquired by Western Digital in 1988[4]
• Teac America, Inc.[3]
• Texas Instruments[3]
• Tokico[3]
• Tulin Corporation[4] – bankrupt
• Vertex Peripherals[28] – acquired by Priam Corporation in 1985
• Xebec[3]
• YE-Data[3]

See also

• History of hard disk drives
• List of computer hardware manufacturers
• List of hard disk manufacturers
• List of solid-state drive manufacturers

Notes

1. The Bulgarian manufacturer ISOT manufactured a 10 MB harddisk drive CM 5508 in 1989. It seems to have been used in the Iskra-1030 personal computer built in 1989 as well. The CM 5508 drive was also available under the ИЗОТ name.

References

1. • Maleval, Jean-Jacques (2013-03-28). "HISTORY: List of 221 Companies in HDD Manufacturing Since 1956". Retrieved 2017-03-27.
2. Hess, Herman (1964). "A Comparison of the Characteristics of Modern Discs and Tapes". Disc File Applications. Nation's First Disc File Symposium. Detroit, Michigan: American Data Processing Inc. pp. 60–70. 64-23108.
3. Corporate Systems Center Hard Drive Bible, Edition VIII, 1996, ISBN 0-9641503-1-X
4. McKendrick, David (November 1997). "Sustaining Competitive Advantage in Global Industries: Technological Change and Foreign Assembly in the Hard Disk Drive Industry". Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
5. "Company Summary: Areal Technology". LinkSV.
6. Alper, Alan (1986-11-10). "Merger fallout puts Memorex across Atlantic". Computerworld. XX (45): 1, 8. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
7. Upton, Molly (1973-10-31). "Caelus Plans 3336-11-Type Disk, Will 'Wait and See' on Winchester". Computerworld. VII (44): 34. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
8. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. (27 January 1986). InfoWorld. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. 18–. ISSN 0199-6649.
9. Advertisement in Datamation, Feb 1970, p. 217
10. http://www.storagesearch.com/cornice.html Storage Search on Cornice
11. Comstock, George E. (2003-08-13). Hendrie, Gardner (ed.). "Oral History of George Comstock" (PDF). Mountain View, California, USA: Computer History Museum. CHM X2727.2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-03-23. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
12. "Toshiba : Press Release (30 Apr, 2009): Toshiba and Fujitsu Conclude Definitive Agreement on HDD Business Transfer".
13. "HP Computer Museum".
14. Smith, Ryan (2012-03-06). "Western Digital To Sell Hitachi's 3.5" Hard Drive Business To Toshiba, Complete Hitachi Buyout". AnandTech. Archived from the original on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2012-12-30. Western Digital will be allowed to acquire Hitachi's 2.5" and SSD businesses, but not the 3.5" business. Instead Western Digital will be selling that business to Toshiba – factories and all – along with granting licenses for the necessary patents, which would allow Toshiba to effectively continue in the 3.5" market from where Hitachi left off. This would firmly establish Seagate, Western Digital, and Toshiba as the 3 major players in the hard drive business across all product segments.
15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-09-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
16. "Toshiba Acquires WD HDD Manufacturing Equipment and Transfer of HDD Manufacturing".
17. Coughlin, Tom. "A very long engagement -- Western Digital finally acquires Hitachi's HDD Business".
18. Information Technology Industry TimeLine Archived 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, see 1971 entry
19. 1985 Disk/Trend Reports - Rigid Disk Drives, p. MFGR-10
20. 1989 Disk/Trend Report - Rigid Disk Drives, p. MFGR-10
21. Librascope Series L107 Disc Memory System
22. 1987 Disk/Trend Report - Rigid Disk Drives, p.MFGR-11 M
23. 1987 Disk Trend Report - Rigid Disk Drives, p. MFGR-25
24. Disk/Trend Reports - Rigid Disk Drive, 1982 - 1987
25. "Another OEM doesn't go to the devil". Computerworld (Advertisement): 32. 1973-10-31. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
26. 1983 Disk/Trend Report - Rigid Disk Drives, p. MFGR-8
27. "Seagate Completes Acquisition of Samsung's Hard Disk Drive Business" (Press release). Seagate Technology. 2011-12-19. Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
28. Sylvester, David (1987-02-17). "Priam moves offshore in bid for survival". The Journal of Commerce. Retrieved 2017-03-28.

Further reading

• Wong, Poh-Kam (July 1999). "The dynamics of the HDD industry development in Singapore" (PDF). Centre for Management of Innovation and Technopreneurship, National University of Singapore: The Information Storage Industry Center, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California. Report 99-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2017-03-27.

• "硬盘" [Hard disk manufacturers] (in Chinese and English). Archived from the original on 2016-12-06. Retrieved 2017-03-30. - lists 126 HDD manufacturers including 3 current ones.