The James N. Porter papers document Porter’s career in the disk drive and data storage industries, particularly his role as the founder and president of DISK/TREND, which published annual market study reports on the disk drive and data storage industry. Material dates from 1956 to 2010, with the bulk of material from 1970 to 2003. The majority of material in the collection consists of DISK/TREND’s profiles on companies active in the disk drive industry. A smaller portion of the collection contains material related to data storage industry conferences, including IDEMA’s DISKCON and DataStorage, two conferences Porter co-founded; storage industry market studies; Porter’s research files on various types of data storage technologies; records from his employment and consulting work outside of DISK/TREND; and unprocessed audiovisual material.

James (Jim) N. Porter was born October 3, 1931, in Sacramento, California. He received a bachelor’s degree in Advertising from San Jose State University.

139.21 Linear feet, 111 record cartons, 4 manuscript boxes

The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the Computer History Museum’s collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer History Museum as owner of the material.

The collection is open for research.