List of hard disk manufacturers

At least 218 companies have manufactured hard disk drives (HDDs) since 1956. Most of that industry has vanished through bankruptcy or mergers and acquisitions. None of the first several entrants (including IBM, who invented the HDD) continue in the industry today. Only three manufacturers have survived—Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital (WD)—all of which grew at least in part through mergers and acquisitions.

Manufacturers

The following is a partial list of hard disk manufacturers, both active and defunct. There are currently manufacturers in this incomplete list. Name Country of origin Year of market entry Year of market exit Fate Notes References 3M United States HDD assets sold to Disc Tech One Alps Electric Japan HDD assets sold to TDK Amcodyne United States Acquired by Century Data Systems Ampex United States Anelex United States Acquired by Mohawk Data Sciences Areal Technology United States Acquired by Tomen Electronics and Sanyo in 1993, dissolved in 1998 Manufactured the first HDDs employing glass as the substrate for their platters Atasi United States Acquired by Tandon (itself acquired by Western Digital) in 1987 Considered a pioneer in the industry for developing voice-coil actuators but had financial struggles throughout its lifetime. Aura Associates United States Avatar Systems United States Bankruptcy BASF Germany HDD assets sold to Kennedy Company Brand Technologies United States Bryant Computer Products United States Dissolution Renamed to XLO Computer Products in 1972 Bull Peripheral United States Acquired by Seagate Technology American subsidiary of CII-Honeywell-Bull Burroughs United States C. Itoh Japan Castlewood Systems United States Bankruptcy Caelus Memories United States Acquired by Electronic Memories & Magnetics Calcomp United States HDD assets sold to Xerox Calluna Technology United Kingdom Dissolution Cardiff Peripherals United States Century Data Systems United States Acquired by CalComp in 1972; later sold to Xerox in 1979 CII-Honeywell-Bull France HDD business acquired by Seagate Technology Resold drives through partnership with Magnetic Peripherals; CII-Honeywell-Bull was itself a joint venture between Compagnie Internationale d'Informatique, Honeywell, and Groupe Bull Cogito Systems United States Dissolution Comport United States Dissolution Computer Memories, Inc. United States Exited the HDD business Computer Memory Devices United States Dissolution Conner Peripherals United States Acquired by Seagate Technology Cornice United States Dissolution Data Disc United States Acquired by Datapoint Data General United States Disk/Trend Report – Rigid Disk Drives, June 1977, p. 163Disk/Trend Report – Rigid Disk Drives, October 1990, p. MFGR-6 Datapoint United States HDD assets sold to Xebec Corporation Dataproducts United States Exited the HDD business Data Recording Instrument United Kingdom Acquired by FKI First company to manufacture HDDs in Europe Data-Tech Memories United States Dissolution Diablo Systems United States Acquired by Xerox Digital Equipment Corporation United States Exited the HDD business Disc Tech One United States Acquired by Life Tech Industries Disctron United States Dissolution Spin-off of Computer & Communications Technology DMA Systems United States Dissolution DZU AD Bulgaria Dissolution Originally a state-owned entity, later converted to private company; HDD assets dispersed between 1997 and 1999 Ecol. 2 United States Dissolution Never produced any drives beyond prototypes Electronic Memories & Magnetics United States Acquired by Titan Systems Emulex United States HDD assets spun off as QLogic Epson Japan Left the HDD business Espert South Korea Dissolution ExcelStor Technology China Dissolution Fuji Electric Japan Exited the HDD business Fujitsu Japan HDD assets sold to Toshiba General Electric United States HDD assets sold to Honeywell GS Magicstor China Dissolution Hewlett-Packard United States Exited the HDD business Manufactured the first 1.3-inch HDDs HGST United States Acquired by Western Digital Hitachi's HDD business after acquiring IBM's HDD assets Hitachi United States HDD assets sold to Western Digital Hokushin Electric Works Japan Hyosung South Korea IBM United States HDD assets sold to Hitachi Inventors of the HDD; HDD assets briefly spun off to AdStar between 1992 and 1995 Imprimis (CDC) United States Acquired by Seagate Technology Joint venture between Control Data and CII-Honeywell-Bull; Internally known as Magnetic Peripherals, Inc Information Storage Systems United States Acquired by Itel Corporation; later sold to Sperry Univac Intégral Peripherals United States Acquired by H&Q Asia Pacific Manufactured the first 1.8-inch HDDs International Memories United States Merged with Onyx Systems to become Dorado Micro Systems, later Onyx-IMI; left the HDD business in 1984; HDD business sold to Fujhin Electronic Computer Co. in 1985 Iomec United States Acquired by Data 100 Iomega United States Acquired by EMC Corporation Bulgaria Dissolution State-owned entity Josephine County Technology United States Dissolution JT Storage United States Dissolution JVC Japan Kalok United States Acquired by JT Storage Kennedy United States Dissolution Kyocera Japan Exited the HDD business LaPine Technologies United States Bankruptcy Librascope United States Acquired by Singer Corporation Marshall Laboratories United States Dissolution Matsushita Japan () Exited the HDD business Originally as a licensee of Quantum Maxtor United States Acquired by Seagate Technology Memorex United States Acquired by Burroughs Corporation; HDD assets later sold to Toshiba Manufactured the first HDD subsystems that were plug-compatible with IBM's Microcomputer Memories United States Bankruptcy Micropolis United States HDD assets sold to Singapore Technology Microscience International United States Bankruptcy MiniScribe United States Acquired by Maxtor MiniStor Peripherals United States Bankruptcy Manufactured the first PC Card HDDs Mitsubishi Japan HDD assets sold to Showa Denko Mitsumi Electric Japan NCR United States NEC Japan Exited the HDD business Newbury Data United Kingdom Acquired by FKI Nippon Electric Industry Japan Nippon Peripherals Japan Dissolution Nomaï France Acquired by Iomega Ohio Scientific United States Acquired by M/A-COM Okidata Japan HDD business acquired by Ohio Scientific Olivetti OPE Italy Left the HDD business Orca Technology United States Bankruptcy; HDD assets sold to Samsung Electronics in 1995 Otari Japan Exited the HDD business Pertec Computer United States Acquired by Triumph-Adler Philips Netherlands Plus Development United States Dissolution Inventors of the hardcard Potter Instrument United States Bankruptcy PrairieTek United States Bankruptcy Manufactured the first 2.5-inch HDDs Priam United States HDD assets sold to Prima International Peripheral Technology United States Dissolution Quantum United States HDD assets sold to Maxtor Ricoh Japan Exited the HDD business Rodime United Kingdom Exited the HDD business Manufactured the first 3.5-inch HDDs Rotating Memory Systems United States Acquired by Computer & Communications Technology SAGEM France Exited the HDD business Samsung Electronics South Korea HDD assets sold to Seagate Technology Seagate Technology United States Manufactured the first 5.25-inch HDDs Sequel United States Bankruptcy Spin-off of Memorex's HDD business after the latter was acquired by Unisys Shugart Associates United States Acquired by Xerox in 1977; assets liquidated in 1985 Siemens Germany Storage Technology Corporation United States Acquired by Sun Microsystems SyQuest Technology United States HDD assets sold to Iomega Tandon United States HDD assets sold to Western Digital TEAC Japan Texas Instruments United States Exited the HDD business First company to second-source Seagate's ST-506, the first 5.25-inch HDD Tokico Japan Toshiba Japan Tulin United States Dissolution Vertex Peripherals United States Acquired by Priam Corporation Wangco United States Acquired by Perkin-Elmer Western Digital United States Entered the industry after acquiring the hard disk drive business of Tandon Corporation Xebec United States Originally named Microcomputer Systems Corporation; 1410 SASI controller formed the basis of IBM PC's hard disk controller YE-Data Japan Exited the HDD business

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

References General references

Specific references

Further reading