Engineers at Toshiba have demonstrated a working prototype of a
hard disk drive that crams in 50% more data than previous models
and opens the way to higher capacity hard disk drives (HDDs).
The drive manages to pack 52Gbits of data into one square inch of
magnetic recording space. This represents a big jump from the
company's current highest capacity commercial drive, a 2.5-inch,
20Gbyte model that has an areal density of 35.1Gbits per square
inch (bpsi). In contrast, the areal density achieved with the
prototype drive translates into a capacity of 30Gbytes per 2.5 inch
platter.
The company says it expects the technology won't find its way into
commercial products until later this year or sometime next year.
Meanwhile researchers are already concentrating on doubling drive
capacity to 100G bpsi before the end of 2003.
Toshiba is in a race with other leading hard disk drive makers to
increase areal density and so come out with higher capacity hard
disk drives. This is especially important for drives with platters
- the circular discs coated with a magnetic material on which data
is recorded - of 2.5 inches in diameter and below because their
smaller size means there is less physical space for data.
IBM's latest 2.5-inch drive, the Travelstar 40GN, has an areal
density of 34G bpsi and capacity of 20Gbytes per platter while
Fujitsu MHR series 2.5-inch drives, which were introduced in
October, boasted a 36.1G bpsi areal density but still 20Gbytes per
platter.
Toshiba is also hoping to produce even smaller drives. In May 2000
the company put on sale its first 1.8-inch hard disk drive.
Initially available with a capacity of 2Gbytes, a 5Gbyte version of
the drive went on sale last year and in January this year Toshiba
announced 10Gbyte and 20Gbyte versions. The drives weigh just 62
grams and are small enough to be packaged inside a standard type-II
PC Card case, making them perfect for use as a bridge media for
transferring files between devices or as expansion storage
space.
In addition to hard drives for computer use, the company also
revealed some of its development work underway aimed at drives for
new applications.
Development of a new type of Audio-Visual hard disk drive (AV-HDD),
for use in consumer electronics products, is almost complete and
the drive is expected to be on the market before the end of March.
Unlike drives for computer use, AV-HDDs impose time limits on the
speed with which information can be read off the drive so as to
ensure a steady video or audio stream. One of the side-effects of
this is increased noise, said Yutaka Arakawa, a specialist in
Toshiba's hard disk drive development department.
The new drive, a 40Gbyte 2.5 inch model, cuts most of the noise
usually associated with AV-HDDs but retains the time limit on read
operations to ensure a smooth stream of data, he said.