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Terrabit Per-Square-Inch Hard Drive
BitGuy writes: "Physics News Update reports that current GMR (giant magnetoresistance) harddisk technology will not achieve terrabit-per-square-inch densities. Experiments with EMR (extra-ordinary magnetoresistive), which exceeds 100Gb/in^2 have been successful in the lab. There is even a diagram of the read head if you're interested."
Hmm... I wonder how they got dirt and the like to such high density... did they mean Terabit?
-- Huh?
I'm not buying another one until it comes with Super Duper Magnetoresistance.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." - George Bush
Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) hard disk technologies cannot achieve Terrabit per square inch performance. Neither can the "extraordinary" magnetoresistive (EMR) hard disk that is proposed. It is hoped that in the near future "extra-extraordinary" magnetoresistance (EEMR) hard disk technology is developed, and then perhaps "goddamn-extraordinary" magnetoresistance (GDEMR).
"Now gluttony and exploitation serves eight!" - TV's Frank
GMR (giant magnetoresistance) harddisk technology will not achieve terrabit-per-square-inch densities. Experiments with EMR (extra-ordinary magnetoresistive), which exceeds 100Gb/in^2 have been successful in the lab.
After that, comes IMR (improbable magnetoresistive) where the Library of Congress fits in a square inch.
Finally, new advancements in subatomic physics leads to LMR (ludicrous magnetoresistive), giving more bits of storage than there are atoms on the platter. The "flavor" and "color" of each quark are directly manipulated and sampled by the drive head.
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I recall some things from some years ago where there were even transparent colored cubes that looked like things straight out of Star Trek, but they had problems with the registration. It was next to impossible to reseat the cube exactly correctly so that you could retain access to your data. but obviously, other solutions have worked well.
I would love for the cost of these things to come down to something reasonable for the consumer. Recalling the old Tandy laptops that some folks still use, one of advantadge of them is their virtual indestructability, all because of the solid state memory drives inside. (admitting they are small, but they work very very well indeed)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Besides, the USA is progressing towards the metric system, inch by inch, so not to worry.
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If you moderate this, then your children will be next.
...winchester drives came out, folks were talking about how small the read gaps were and the damage a human hair or a smoke particle could cause if it got between the read head and the platter. Since hard drives were the size of a washing machine, it was pretty amazing to think that a smoke particle could ruin it. Disk drives "fly" the heads as close as they can to the platters to minimize the area being affected by the read/write signaling.
So at what point does the surface of "perfectly clean" material get so inherently bumpy that it's impossible to go any further without crashing into the random atom that sticks above its neighbors? Given the bumpiness induced by thermal agitation, are hard drives of the future going to have to be cooled just to get the heads in close enough?