UNIVAC FASTRAND
FASTRAND was a magnetic drum mass storage system built by Sperry Rand Corporation for their UNIVAC 1100 series and 490/494 series computers.
A voice coil actuator moved a bar containing multiple single track recording heads, so these drums operated much like moving head disk drives with multiple disks. The heads "flew" on self-acting hydrodynamic air bearings. The drums had a plated magnetic recording film.
The Fastrands were very heavy (5,000 pounds) and large, approximately 6' long. They required special rigging and mounts to install. There were reported cases of drum bearing failures that caused the machine to tear itself apart and send the heavy drum crashing through walls.
At the time of their introduction the storage capacity exceeded any other random access mass storage disk or drum.
There were three models of FASTRAND drives:
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