Submission + - TDK areal density breakthrough paves way for 6TB hard drives (geek.com)
An anonymous reader writes: SSDs may be leading the way on performance storage, but they still can’t compete with hard drives on price or level of storage per drive. And now TDK has pushed the bar even higher by increasing the areal density of its hard drives by 50%.
What TDK did was to employ a new magnetic head that uses thermal assist recording and a near-light field. Where as previously TDK had maxed out areal density at 1Tbit/inch2, this new head and associated tech increases that density to 1.5Tbits/inch2. In real terms that means TDK can offer 1TB of storage per platter in a 2.5-inch hard drive, and 2TB of storage per platter in a 3.5-inch drive. That means we will see 1, 2, and 3 platter 3.5-inch hard drives offering 2TB, 4TB, and 6TB of storage respectively. 2.5-inch hard drives and the Ultrabook-friendly 7mm drives will also benefit from a stroage increase.
What TDK did was to employ a new magnetic head that uses thermal assist recording and a near-light field. Where as previously TDK had maxed out areal density at 1Tbit/inch2, this new head and associated tech increases that density to 1.5Tbits/inch2. In real terms that means TDK can offer 1TB of storage per platter in a 2.5-inch hard drive, and 2TB of storage per platter in a 3.5-inch drive. That means we will see 1, 2, and 3 platter 3.5-inch hard drives offering 2TB, 4TB, and 6TB of storage respectively. 2.5-inch hard drives and the Ultrabook-friendly 7mm drives will also benefit from a stroage increase.