Toshiba HDD Platters Get 2.5Tb Of Data On Every Square Inch

Despite the increasing popularity of SSDs, there’s no denying that traditional hard drives are going to be around for a while more, and now Toshiba is busy demonstrating a prototype of a new storage technique called bit-pattern recording that offers a storage density of 2.5Tb per square inch, about five times more than the company’s current offerings. This feat is achieved by placing individual bits onto lithographed “islands” of magnetic material, which will protect the charge of the individual bit while allowing the sector to be much smaller. Don’t expect to see anything using such technology until 2013, but hopefully the wait will be worth it.