HARD DRIVES AND TAPES

Hard drives currently on the market for PCs have capacities in the tens of gigabytes and data densities of a few tens of gigabytes per square inch with 100 Gbits/sq. in. expected in the next generation. The use of magnetic nanoparticles offers the potential of terabyte drives, as does the patterned media approach being pursued by IBM and General Electric. Interestingly, this latter approach is being pursued using nanoimprinting technology. Fuji announced late in 2001 new magnetic coating promising 3-gigabyte floppy disks.