Toshiba has announced what it calls a breakthrough in magnetic storage - bit-patterned media - which the company claims will result in massive storage improvements for future hard drives.
According to pre-announcement coverage by iTworld, Toshiba's new technology uses bit-patterned media - disk platters covered in microscopic spheres of magnetic material, rather than a uniform coating - to store vastly more quantities of data than is currently possible on traditional magnetic storage drives.
While research into the same technology has been carried out before - even to the point of the creation of prototypes - Toshiba claims that its work represents the first time a prototype device has been created with the magnetic spheres aligned in a specific pattern. Without this alignment - missing from previous prototypes - it becomes impossible to find where particular data are stored, meaning the technology has never been usable as a product before.
While Toshiba's work is a long way from shop shelves - with the company claiming that the first products based around the technology won't be available until at least 2013 - the company appears a lot closer to success than most: as well as the alignment, Toshiba's prototype has been able to gather "usable signals" from data stored on the magnetic spheres via a specially constructed read-write head.
The reason for the company's efforts is simple: current magnetic media tops out at a data density of around 541Gb per square inch, but the bit-patterned prototype is already achieving densities equivalent to 2.5Tb per square inch - five times greater.
Should Toshiba succeed in commercialising the technology, it will have a head-start in producing ultra-high-capacity storage drives for those who need terabytes of data at their beck and call.
Are you amazed that such a massive leap in storage density is possible, or will you believe it when Toshiba launches its first 2.5in 10TB hard drive? Are you just surprised to see a storage company that hasn't put all its research money into SSD technology? Share your thoughts on Toshiba's work over in the forums.
According to pre-announcement coverage by iTworld, Toshiba's new technology uses bit-patterned media - disk platters covered in microscopic spheres of magnetic material, rather than a uniform coating - to store vastly more quantities of data than is currently possible on traditional magnetic storage drives.
While research into the same technology has been carried out before - even to the point of the creation of prototypes - Toshiba claims that its work represents the first time a prototype device has been created with the magnetic spheres aligned in a specific pattern. Without this alignment - missing from previous prototypes - it becomes impossible to find where particular data are stored, meaning the technology has never been usable as a product before.
While Toshiba's work is a long way from shop shelves - with the company claiming that the first products based around the technology won't be available until at least 2013 - the company appears a lot closer to success than most: as well as the alignment, Toshiba's prototype has been able to gather "usable signals" from data stored on the magnetic spheres via a specially constructed read-write head.
The reason for the company's efforts is simple: current magnetic media tops out at a data density of around 541Gb per square inch, but the bit-patterned prototype is already achieving densities equivalent to 2.5Tb per square inch - five times greater.
Should Toshiba succeed in commercialising the technology, it will have a head-start in producing ultra-high-capacity storage drives for those who need terabytes of data at their beck and call.
Are you amazed that such a massive leap in storage density is possible, or will you believe it when Toshiba launches its first 2.5in 10TB hard drive? Are you just surprised to see a storage company that hasn't put all its research money into SSD technology? Share your thoughts on Toshiba's work over in the forums.
RELATED ARTICLES
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.