By 2010: 1.2TB Laptop HDDs?
As the visual quality of video games, movies, music, and other entertainment media improve, HDD manufacturers continue the endless pursuit of higher capacity in order to keep up with the demand. One such manufacturer, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, may have a leading position in the HDD market of tomorrow. In fact, Fujitsu is working on a technology that will allow 2.5 inch HDDs to carry up to 1.2TB of storage space.
“The company is announcing later this week that it has created ideally ‘ordered’ alumina nanohole patterns for isolated bit-by-bit recording on a large disk area. With that feat, Fujitsu says it has successfully demonstrated the ability to perform basic read/write capability of each individual nanohole of the patterned media using a typical flying head on a rotating disk. That breakthrough could lead the company to produce hard drives with storage capacities of up to 1.2TB on a two-platter, 2.5-in. drive as soon as 2010, noted Joel Hagberg, vice president of business development at Fujitsu Computer Products of America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Fujitsu.”
The development of the ideally ordered alumina nanohole patterned media was a collaborative effort between the Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, and Yamagata Fujitsu Ltd. Smaller hard drives tend to be easier to cool down and tend to use less power. However, smaller HDDs have traditionally had less storage capacity compared to their larger counterparts. That’s why the endeavor may have been a response to the demand for a hard drive that combines the best of both worlds: high capacity, low power consumption, and easy to cool.
