December 14, 2004
(IDG News Service)
Toshiba Corp. said today that it is close to commercializing a new data storage technology that could significantly increase the capacity of hard disk drives.
The company plans to put on sale in the middle of 2005 two 1.8-in. hard disk drives that use the technology, called perpendicular recording. As with current drives, the new method relies on storing data in magnetically charged bits. However, unlike current longitudinal recording in which the bits lie flat on the disk surface, in perpendicular recording they stand upright and thus take up less space. This means there is room for more of them on the disk and so the storage capacity is higher.
The first two drives expected to use the technology will have a recording density of 133Gbit per square inch, which is 37% greater than current drives, said Junko Furuta, a spokeswoman for Toshiba in Tokyo.
They will be 1.8-in. drives of the type used in portable consumer electronics products, such as digital music players. One of Toshiba's best-known customers for its 1.8-in. drives is Apple Computer Inc., which uses them in its iPod family of music players. The greater recording density could help Toshiba's customers produce thinner and lighter products.
For example, one of the two drives will have a single disk platter and be capable of storing 40GB of data. Toshiba's current 40GB drive requires two platters to achieve this capacity. The drop from a dual to a single platter means the overall drive falls in thickness from 8mm to 5mm. Toshiba's second drive will pack two platters and offer a total storage capacity of 80GB -- the highest yet for a device of its size.
Other major specifications of the drives, including the weight, average seek time and rotational speed, remain similar to Toshiba's current 1.8-in. drives.
Toshiba won't provide an estimate of the likely price of the drives. It said sample drives are available now and cost $1,145 for the 40GB model and $1,422 for the 80GB model.
In the future, the company also wants to use the technology in its 0.85-in. drive. Employing perpendicular recording along with other new technologies will raise the capacity of the drives from between 2GB and 4GB to between 6GB and 8GB, said Furuta.