Hitachi aims 1TB desktop drives by 2007

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announces that it will be able to push desktop drives capacity to 1 TB (1 Terabyte or 1000 Gigabytes) in 2007, thanks to the perpendicular recording technology. Up until now, hard drives were recording information on platters, or disks, in a 2-dimensional fashion called longitudinal recording, where each location on the surface could store a binary element (bit). The perpendicular technology allows the drive to write more information in the same space.

Hitachi could not only make larger desktop drives, but also smaller hard drives to be used use in small devices such as cellphones. This is the single most important evolution in hard drive technology for the past decade and it is a key element of what tomorrow’s storage will be: hard drives will be everywhere.

It has the same effect as adding more platters (increasing the capacity) with any of the drawbacks: each platter requires additional mechanical parts and additional volume in the drive case. Hitachi could not only make larger desktop drives, but also smaller hard drives to be used use in small devices such as cellphones. This is the single most important evolution in hard drive technology for the past decade and it is a key element of what tomorrow’s storage will be: hard drives will be everywhere.