Nanotube Lube Replenishment for Massive Drives

PetManimal writes "Techworld reports that Seagate has just patented something called 'Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording,' which features nanotechnology and could lead to a 1.46TB 2.5-in. drive. The article says 'Storing data properly in extremely small areas requires the magnetic material to be heated during the writing phase, but this causes the lubricant film deposited on top of the magnetized recording layer to evaporate. Seagate's patent resolves this problem by having a reservoir inside the disk casing that contains nanotube-based lubricant. Some of this is periodically pumped out as a vapor and deposited on the surface of the disk, replenishing the evaporated lubricant.'"

Comments

Precisely timed warranties

[bo0ork]

So when we see the warranty on those disk, it won't be 1 year, it'll be 8760 hours. I mean, talk about throw-away society. These things would come with probably extremely toxic non-refillable containers that are guaranteed to be emptied out at the most inopportune moment.

so what happens when...

[Anonymous Coward]

so when the resivoir empties, your 1.5TB of data evaporates with whatever is left over of the nanotubes?

Hard drive manufacturers are idiots.

[zymano]

Is density really the problem ?

We need FASTER access times.

We need multiple read/write heads.

Re:Correct me if I'm wrong...

[Cheerio Boy]

And, incidentally, the ten year life of the lubricant reservoir should be sufficient IMHO. I can't imagine in ten years we'll still be using the same hard drives anyway.

Remind me to tell that to my DEC RA82 I have at home. ;-)

Re:Drives needing lube?

[Kadin2048]

Seems like a nice way to ensure that everyone buys new hard drives every few years; once they go out of warranty, they run out of lube, and consequently come to a screeching halt.

King Gillette would be proud.