Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Toshiba 40GB Perpendicular Magnetic Record Drives

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hot-new-methods dept.

freitasm writes "Toshiba is now shipping a 40GB 1.8" hard disk, the first in the industry based on the PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording) technology. The disk stores 40GB in a single platter, and there are plans to release a 80GB version later this year. The first models are already being used on Toshiba's new Gigabeat MP3 players." It's all part of their plan to squeeze more bits onto the head of a pin.

3 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Faster... by eviltypeguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Anyone know what the performance of these "perpendicular" drives will be like compared to today's accepted methods?

  2. Re:can't wait for the 1TB 3.5 inch version to arri by matt21811 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is posible to make an educated guess on this.

    The density of transistors has been doubling about every 18 months since 1997, in the storage industry, density has been doubling every 12 months.

    So,
    8/05 - 400 GB - which is close to the largest 3.5" drives you can get at the moment
    8/06 - 800 GB
    8/07 - 1600 GB

    So you could, quite reasonably, estmate that 1 TB 3.5" drives will be around early 2007.

  3. Re:Is 40GB the smallest you can buy now? by fredistheking · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Western Digital still makes 8GB drives for XBOX. These are really 20GB platters that have been short stroked to 8GB since microsoft wants uniformity. In reality these are 80GB platters that didn't make it. Western Digital doesn't produce any drives with less than 80GB platters now. All the 80GBs that you find commonly in Dells are single platter.