Seagate Sets Disc Drive Areal Density Record

Seagate Technology this week announced what it said is a new areal density record of more than 100 billion data bits per square inch (100 Gb/in2) using a fully integrated magnetic recording head and multi-layer antiferrogmagnetic coupled (AFC) disc.

“This milestone significantly surpasses any industry announcement to date,” said Tom Porter, Chief Technical Officer at Seagate. “As in all previous Seagate areal density achievements, we have used fully integrated components that are close in design to volume producible devices. This demonstration illustrates that the hard disc drive industry can continue achieving high areal density growth that historically has led to enormous disc drive storage capacities at very low cost. We’ve clearly mapped the direction for developing disc drives with capacities that are many times higher than those available today.”

According to the company, the achievement means that 125 gigabytes of capacity can be put onto a single 3.5-inch disc drive platter, compared to currently shipping products holding 40 gigabytes per platter. This level of storage capacity translates into 63 hours of DVD-quality video, over 750,000 mega pixel digital images, or nearly 40,000 songs on a single disc.