Next Generation Storage From Hitachi

Hitachi's new 'Perpendicular Storage' promises to save enough room on existing hard disks to store 10 times the data! How do they do it? Well, apparently the data bits in current hard disks lay flat on the surface of the disk. With the current data density increase (in line with Moore's Law), the bits are so closely packed that they end up influencing each other's magnetic orientation - leading to data corruption. The very orientation of the bits also comes across as a wall when it comes to companies trying to increase data density.

Hitachi came up with this radical new idea to have the bits standing instead of lying on the disk. The result? Less crowding of the bits, more space available for more space (aka higher capacity) and happier bits. Now if only they could have multiple levels for the standing bits, kinda like city apartments ...

Follow this link to watch a flash video of the new technology. The soundtrack is interesting. I couldn't ascertain if the domain name is owned by Hitachi though, if you have any idea on that, do leave a comment.

Another interesting way of storing massive amounts of data doing the rounds these days is the transparent disk. If you remember how a DVD works, it's basically a surface where a laser etches data. Imagine if, instead of one (currently two), there were 200 layers for the laser to write the data on! Such disks promise to store upto 500Gbs of data and, when manufactured inexpensively, will definitely replace the Blu-ray and HD DVDs of today.