The following is the genealogy of the current HDD companies:
1967: Hitachi enters the HDD business.
1967: Toshiba enters the HDD business.
1979: Seagate Technology[21] founded.
1988: Western Digital, then a well-known controller designer, enters the HDD business by acquiring Tandon Corporation's disk manufacturing division.
1988: Samsung enters the worldwide HDD market, previously having manufactured Comport disk drives for the Korean market.
1989: Seagate Technology purchases Control Data's HDD business.
1990: Maxtor purchases MiniScribe out of bankruptcy, making it the core of its low-end HDDs.
1994: Quantum purchases DEC's storage division, giving it a high-end disk range to go with its more consumer-oriented ProDrive range.
1996: Seagate acquires Conner Peripherals in a merger.
2000: Maxtor acquires Quantum's HDD business; Quantum remains in the tape business.
2003: Hitachi acquires the majority of IBM's disk division, renaming it Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST).
2006: Seagate acquires Maxtor.
2009: Toshiba acquires Fujitsu's HDD division
2011: Western Digital acquires Hitachi's HDD division.
2011: Seagate acquires Samsung's HDD division.
List of defunct hard disk manufacturers
Here follows a list of notable defunct HDD manufacturers:
Alps Electric - left industry
Apple, Inc. - produced the proprietary Lisa 20MB Widget drive in house in 1984 for less than two years before leaving the hard drive business.
Atasi Corp. - bankrupt
Areal Technology - acquired by Tomen Corp
Cogito Systems - bankrupt
Computer Memories Inc. (CMI) - left industry in 1986
Conner Peripherals - merged with Seagate in 1996
Conner Technologies - merged with ExcelStor in 2001
Control Data Corporation / Imprimis - sold hard disk drive business to Seagate in 1989
Cornice LLC - bankrupt in 2007
Data General - left industry
Data Storage International - bankrupt
Digital Equipment Corporation - sold hard disk drive business to Quantum in 1994
Epson - left industry
Evotek
ExcelStor Technology - left industry
Fujitsu - HDD division acquired by Toshiba in July 2009
Halo Data - startup making mini disk drives for digital cameras went bankrupt in 2001
Hewlett-Packard - left industry
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies - sold to Western Digital in 2011
IBM - hard disk drive business acquired by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in 2002
Integral Peripherals - first rigid 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998
International Memories (IMI) - spun off by Memorex in 1977; left industry in 1985
Iomega - left industry
JT Storage - bankrupt in 1999
JVC - left industry
Kalok - bankrupt in 1994
Kyocera - left industry
LaPine Technologies
Maxtor - acquired by Seagate in 2006
Memorex - acquired by Burroughs 1981 and then merged into Unisys 1986; HDD division shut down in 1988
Micropolis Corporation - bankrupt in 1997
Microscience International - bankrupt in 1992
MiniScribe - bankrupt and then acquired by Maxtor in 1990
Ministor Peripherals - first mobile 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998
Mitsubishi - left industry
NEC - left industry
Plus Development - Subsidiary of Quantum; created Hardcard; absorbed back into Quantum 1992
PrairieTek - first 2.5" rigid HDD; bankrupt in 1991
Priam Systems - sold product line to Prima International in 1991
Quantum Corporation - sold hard disk drive business to Maxtor in 2000
Rahm Rotationals - renamed and merged in 1994 to Tamir Tech (purchased by Quantum 1995)
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
Samsung - acquired by Seagate for $1.375 billion on April 19th, 2011
Sony
Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK) - left industry
Syquest - 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
Texas Instruments - left industry
Tulin Corporation - bankrupt
Wang Laboratories - left industry
1967: Hitachi enters the HDD business.
1967: Toshiba enters the HDD business.
1979: Seagate Technology[21] founded.
1988: Western Digital, then a well-known controller designer, enters the HDD business by acquiring Tandon Corporation's disk manufacturing division.
1988: Samsung enters the worldwide HDD market, previously having manufactured Comport disk drives for the Korean market.
1989: Seagate Technology purchases Control Data's HDD business.
1990: Maxtor purchases MiniScribe out of bankruptcy, making it the core of its low-end HDDs.
1994: Quantum purchases DEC's storage division, giving it a high-end disk range to go with its more consumer-oriented ProDrive range.
1996: Seagate acquires Conner Peripherals in a merger.
2000: Maxtor acquires Quantum's HDD business; Quantum remains in the tape business.
2003: Hitachi acquires the majority of IBM's disk division, renaming it Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST).
2006: Seagate acquires Maxtor.
2009: Toshiba acquires Fujitsu's HDD division
2011: Western Digital acquires Hitachi's HDD division.
2011: Seagate acquires Samsung's HDD division.
List of defunct hard disk manufacturers
Here follows a list of notable defunct HDD manufacturers:
Alps Electric - left industry
Apple, Inc. - produced the proprietary Lisa 20MB Widget drive in house in 1984 for less than two years before leaving the hard drive business.
Atasi Corp. - bankrupt
Areal Technology - acquired by Tomen Corp
Cogito Systems - bankrupt
Computer Memories Inc. (CMI) - left industry in 1986
Conner Peripherals - merged with Seagate in 1996
Conner Technologies - merged with ExcelStor in 2001
Control Data Corporation / Imprimis - sold hard disk drive business to Seagate in 1989
Cornice LLC - bankrupt in 2007
Data General - left industry
Data Storage International - bankrupt
Digital Equipment Corporation - sold hard disk drive business to Quantum in 1994
Epson - left industry
Evotek
ExcelStor Technology - left industry
Fujitsu - HDD division acquired by Toshiba in July 2009
Halo Data - startup making mini disk drives for digital cameras went bankrupt in 2001
Hewlett-Packard - left industry
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies - sold to Western Digital in 2011
IBM - hard disk drive business acquired by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in 2002
Integral Peripherals - first rigid 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998
International Memories (IMI) - spun off by Memorex in 1977; left industry in 1985
Iomega - left industry
JT Storage - bankrupt in 1999
JVC - left industry
Kalok - bankrupt in 1994
Kyocera - left industry
LaPine Technologies
Maxtor - acquired by Seagate in 2006
Memorex - acquired by Burroughs 1981 and then merged into Unisys 1986; HDD division shut down in 1988
Micropolis Corporation - bankrupt in 1997
Microscience International - bankrupt in 1992
MiniScribe - bankrupt and then acquired by Maxtor in 1990
Ministor Peripherals - first mobile 1.8" drive; bankrupt in 1998
Mitsubishi - left industry
NEC - left industry
Plus Development - Subsidiary of Quantum; created Hardcard; absorbed back into Quantum 1992
PrairieTek - first 2.5" rigid HDD; bankrupt in 1991
Priam Systems - sold product line to Prima International in 1991
Quantum Corporation - sold hard disk drive business to Maxtor in 2000
Rahm Rotationals - renamed and merged in 1994 to Tamir Tech (purchased by Quantum 1995)
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
Samsung - acquired by Seagate for $1.375 billion on April 19th, 2011
Sony
Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK) - left industry
Syquest - 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
Texas Instruments - left industry
Tulin Corporation - bankrupt
Wang Laboratories - left industry
