As technology continues to evolve, the demand for storage capacity has increased exponentially. The shift from traditional magnetic hard drives to SSDs has been evident in the consumer market, but there are still areas where traditional hard drives are irreplaceable. Seagate, a leading manufacturer of hard drives, has been at the forefront of developing new technologies that promise to revolutionize the storage industry.
Recently, Seagate has been showcasing new hard drive technology that is poised to increase capacities to unimaginable levels. The latest heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology promises to double the data density compared to the traditional perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) tech. However, a recent development by a research team from Seagate Technology, NIMS, and Tohoku University has taken it a step further by successfully demonstrating multi-level HAMR.
The research team has achieved this breakthrough by utilizing two FePt-C nanogranular films separated by a Ru-C spacer layer with a cubic crystal structure. This innovative approach allows the layers to be addressed independently, effectively doubling the storage capacity. The potential for three-level and even four-level recording opens up the possibility of a 10-platter hard drive with a capacity of approximately 240TB.
For end users, this advancement means a significant increase in storage capacity compared to current offerings. Seagate’s existing BarraCuda line of desktop drives tops out at 8TB, while enterprise-class HDDs go up to 24TB. The potential for a 10x increase in capacity could revolutionize how data is stored and accessed, especially for gamers and those with demanding storage needs.
While the technology shows immense promise, there are challenges ahead. The implementation of multi-level materials will require a redesign of read/write heads, making initial costs potentially prohibitive. It is likely that this technology will first be introduced in pricey enterprise drives for servers before eventually making its way to the consumer market. However, history has shown that advancements in hard drive technology eventually trickle down to desktop drives, offering consumers the opportunity to experience unprecedented storage capacities.
The future of hard drive technology is bright, with the potential for capacities of up to 240TB per drive on the horizon. Seagate’s innovations in HAMR and multi-level recording have paved the way for a new era of storage, promising to meet the ever-growing demands of data storage in the digital age. While the exact timeline for the availability of this technology is uncertain, one thing is for sure – the future of hard drive technology is coming, and it is poised to revolutionize the way we store and access data.
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