Computer Memories Inc. (CMI)

Computer Memories Inc. (CMI) was a Chatsworth, California manufacturer of hard disks during the early 1980s. CMI made basic stepper motor-based drives, with low cost in mind. In August 1984 they secured a major contract as sole producer of 20-megabyte hard drives for the base model of the IBM PC/AT. Unfortunately, the Singapore-manufactured CM6000 drives proved highly unreliable. Dealers reported failure rates as high as 25 to 30 percent.[1] Part of the problem was high demand for the PC/AT; IBM increased its order from 90,000 units in 1984 to 240,000 in 1985, and manufacturing quality suffered. Second, the design of the disk drive subsystem itself was flawed.