Hitachi plans 1TB HDDs with perpendicular recording

Hitachi developed a new perpendicular recording technology that could allow the development of 1TB 3.5-inch desktop hard drives and 20GB 1-inch HDDs in 2007. The company said it has already test samples based on the perpendicular recording technology.

Perpendicular recording is perhaps the most significant near-term step in the evolution of hard drive technology. The method is similar to the longitudinal recording used in today's drives in that it relies on magnetically charged particles for data storage. In today's drives, the north and south poles of the magnetic particles run parallel to the disc but in the new method they are arranged perpendicular to the disc, as the name suggests.

Hitachi expects that current hard disk technology will stop at about 120 or 130 gigabits per square inch but that perpendicular recording could allow 230 gigabits per square inch in 2007. More information at PC World