Definition: Winchester disk

(1) For AMD's CPU, see Winchester.

(2) An early removable disk drive from IBM that placed the read/write heads and platters in a sealed unit. Before the Winchester architecture, the read/write heads in removable disks remained in the drive and made contact with the platter after the cartridge was inserted.

Introduced in 1973 as the model 3340, the drive had one permanent and one removable spindle, each holding 30MB. The Winchester nickname came from the Winchester 30-30 rifle. See removable disk.

The Winchester Disk

IBM's Winchester disk was a removable cartridge, but the heads and platters were built in a sealed unit and were not separable. (Image courtesy of IBM.)