Drum memory was a magnetic data storage device invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria. Drums were widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s as computer memory.
Many early computers, called drum computers or drum machines, used drum memory as the main working memory of the computer. Some drums were also used as secondary storage as for example various IBM drum storage drives, and the UNIVAC Flying head and FASTRAND series of drums.