Diagram of Hard Disk Drive Manufacturer Consolidation

At least 223 companies have manufactured

hard disk drives A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magn ...

. Most of that industry has vanished through

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspec ...

. None of the first four entrants continue in the industry today. Only three manufacturers have survived: Seagate,

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

and

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology produ ...

(WD)—all of which grew at least in part through mergers and acquisitions.

Partial list of defunct manufacturers

Some of the defunct manufacturers include: * Alps America * Amcodyne *

Ampex Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence.AbramsoThe History ...

* Anelex Corp. * Areal Technology – acquired by Tomen Corp in 1993 * Atasi Technology, Inc. * Aura Associates * Avatar Systems *

BASF BASF SE () is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries ...

* Brand Technologies * Bryant Computer Products *

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

Burroughs Corporation The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company. In 1986, it merged with Sperry UNIVAC to form Unisys. The company's history paralleled many ...

– merged with Sperry Corporation to form

Unisys Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, ...

in 1986 * C. Itoh Electronics * Castlewood Systems * Caelus Memories, Caelus Memories, Inc. * CalComp * Calluna Technologies * Cardiff * Century Data * Cogito (company), Cogito * Comport *

Computer Memories Inc. Computer Memories, Inc. (CMI) was a Chatsworth, California manufacturer of hard disk drives during the early 1980s. CMI made basic stepper motor-based drives, with low cost in mind. History The company was founded in 1979 by Abraham Brand. In A ...

(CMI) – left industry in 1986 * Computer Memory Devices, Inc. *

Conner Peripherals Conner Peripherals (commonly referred to as Conner) was a company that manufactured hard drives for personal computers. Conner Peripherals was founded in 1985 by Seagate Technology co-founder and San Jose State University alumnus Finis Conner ( ...

– merged with Seagate in 1996 *

Control Data Corporation Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer firm. CDC was one of the nine major United States computer companies through most of the 1960s; the others were IBM, Burroughs Corporation, DEC, NCR, General Electric, Honeywe ...

(CDC) /

Imprimis Technology Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer firm. CDC was one of the nine major United States computer companies through most of the 1960s; the others were IBM, Burroughs Corporation, DEC, NCR, General Electric, Honeyw ...

– sold hard disk drive business to Seagate in 1989 * Cornice LLC – bankrupt in 2007 *

Data General Data General Corporation was one of the first minicomputer firms of the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Their first product, 1969's Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicompute ...

* Data Products Corp. * Data Recording Instruments (DRI) * Data Tech Memories *

Diablo Systems Diablo Data Systems was a division of Xerox created by the acquisition of Diablo Systems Inc. for US$29 million in 1972,

- became Diablo Data Systems in 1972 *

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president un ...

(DEC) – sold hard disk drive business to

Quantum Corporation Quantum Corporation is a data storage, management, and protection company that provides technology to store, manage, archive, and protect video and unstructured data throughout the data lifecycle. Their products are used by enterprises, media and ...

in 1994 * Disc Tech One * Disctron * DMA * DZU (of Bulgaria) – converted from government-owned to private, and sold to Videoton in 1999 * Ecol. 2 * Emulex * Epson * Espert * ExcelStor Technology – left industry *

Fuji Electric , operating under the brand name FE, is a Japanese electrical equipment company, manufacturing pressure transmitters, flowmeters, gas analyzers, controllers, inverters, pumps, generators, ICs, motors, and power equipment. History Fuji Electric ...

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

– HDD division acquired by

in July 2009 *

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

(GE) * Gigastorage * GS Magicstor, Inc. – manufacturing 1-inch drives *

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

(HP) - 1976 to 1996, left industry *

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies HGST, Inc. (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) was a manufacturer of hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and external storage products and services. It was initially a subsidiary of Hitachi, formed through its acquisition of IBM's disk ...

(HGST) – 2002 merger of

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

and IBM disk drive businesses, sold to

in 2012 with part of 3.5″ manufacturing facilities going to

* Hokushin Electric Works * Honeywell Bull *

Hyosung Hyosung Corporation is a South Korean industrial Chaebol, founded in 1966. It operates in various fields, including the chemical industry, industrial machinery, IT, trade, and construction. It is known in Korea mostly for high-end apartments a ...

* IBM – hard disk drive business acquired by

in 2002 * Information Storage Systems Acquired by Itel, then Univac and finally CDC * Integral Peripherals – first rigid 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998 * International Memories, Inc.(IMI) Discontinued manufacturing in early 1985. * Iomec * Iomega – left industry * ISOT/ИЗОТ (of Bulgaria) * Josephine County Technology (JCT) Ceased manufacturing in 1988. *

JT Storage JT Storage, Inc. (also known as JTS Corporation) was a maker of inexpensive IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1994 by "Jugi" Tandon—the inventor of the double-sided floppy disk drive ...

(JTS) – bankrupt in 1999 *

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood corporation. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company is best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for ...

– left industry * Kalok – bankrupt in 1994 * Kyocera Electronics, Inc * LaPine Technologies * Librascope * Marshall Laboratories * Matsushita - left industry in 2004, its final production was exclusive for

and then

Maxtor Maxtor was an American computer hard disk drive manufacturer. Founded in 1982, it was the third largest hard disk drive manufacturer in the world before being purchased by Seagate in 2006. History Overview In 1981, three former IBM employ ...

– acquired by Seagate in 2006 * Memorex – acquired by Burroughs 1981 and then merged into Unisys 1986; HDD division shut down in 1988 * Microcomputer Memories – Chapter 7 bancrutpcy in 1987 *

Micropolis Corporation Micropolis Corporation (styled as ''MICROPΩLIS'') was a disk drive company located in Chatsworth, California and founded in 1976. Micropolis initially manufactured high capacity (for the time) hard-sectored 5.25-inch floppy drives and controlle ...

– bankrupt in 1997 * Microscience International – bankrupt in 1992 *

MiniScribe MiniScribe Corporation was a manufacturer of disk storage products, founded in Longmont, Colorado in 1980. MiniScribe designed and sold stepper motor-based hard disk drives with a large amount of onboard logic for the time. They eventually moved in ...

– bankrupt and then acquired by Maxtor in 1990 * Ministor Peripherals – first mobile 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998 *

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

– left industry * Mitsumi Electronics Corporation *

NCR Corporation NCR Corporation, previously known as National Cash Register, is an American software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and electronic products. It manufactures self-service kiosks, point-of-sale termin ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

– left industry * Newberry Data * Nippon Electric Industry Co. Ltd. (NEI) AKA as Densei in Japan was 34.5% owned by NEC. Stopped manufacturing HDDs in December 1986. * Nippon Peripherals, Limited (NPL) * Nomaï * Okidata *

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been par ...

* Orca Technology Corporation * Otari 1982-1986 * Pertec Computer *

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

* Plus Development – Subsidiary of Quantum; created Hardcard; absorbed back into Quantum 1992 * Potter Instrument *

PrairieTek PrairieTek was a hard drive manufacturer located in Longmont, Colorado in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was founded by Terry Johnson in 1985. It manufactured 5 and 10 megabyte " ruggedized" miniature hard drives for the laptop computer mark ...

– first 2.5" rigid HDD; bankrupt in 1991 *

Priam Corporation Priam Corporation was a company located in San Jose, California, founded in 1978 by William Schroeder and Al Wilson, two former Memorex executives, as a manufacturer of hard disk drives. Originally, they made high-capacity 14-inch drives, develope ...

– 1978–1989, became Priam Systems Corporation in 1990 and sold product line to Prima International in 1991 * Peripheral Technology, Inc (PTI) *

– sold hard disk drive business to

in 2001 * Raymond Engineering *

Ricoh is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational imaging and electronics company (law), company. It was founded by the now-defunct commercial division of the Riken, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) known as the ''Riken ...

* Rodime – first 3.5" rigid HDD; 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 Sportech PLC is an online gambling and entertainment company headquartered in the United Kingdom. The company is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol SPO.L; the stock is a component of the Alternative Investment Market. The co ...

. * Rotating Memory Systems, Inc. (RMS) Acquired by CCT in 1982 1983 Disk/Trend Report - Rigid Disk Drives, p. MFGR-8 * Sagem *

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

– HDD business acquired by Seagate for $1.4 billion in 2011 * Seiko Epson *

Sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

- spin out of Memorex in 1988 *

Shugart Associates Shugart Associates (later Shugart Corporation) was a computer peripheral manufacturer that dominated the floppy disk drive market in the late 1970s and is famous for introducing the -inch "Minifloppy" floppy disk drive. In 1979 it was one of the ...

– Acquired by Xerox in 1977 and shut down in 1986. *

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Storage Technology Corporation Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK, earlier STC) was a data storage technology company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. New products include data retention systems, which it calls "information lifecycle management" (ILM). It ...

(StorageTek or STK) – left industry * SyQuest Technology – bankrupt in 1998; some patents acquired by Iomega. Re-emerged selling cartridges for their previously discontinued products. * Tandon Corporation – acquired by Western Digital in 1988 * Teac America, Inc. *

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...

* Tokico * Tulin Corporation – bankrupt * Vertex Peripherals – acquired by

in 1985 * Xebec – Xebec's 1410 SCSI controller formed the basis of IBM PC's hard disk controller. * YE-Data

Partial list of defunct manufacturers

See also

Notes

References

Further reading