Ancient slow, cylindrical magnetic media that were once
state-of-the-art storage devices. Under BSD Unix the disk
partition used for swapping is still called "/dev/drum"; this
has led to considerable humour and not a few straight-faced
but utterly bogus "explanations" getting foisted on newbies.
See also "The Story of Mel".
(1994-12-22)
Nearby terms:
DrScheme « DRUCO I « drugged « drum » drunk mouse syndrome » dry run » DS0
