Perpendicular drives store data vertically, increasing capacity and preserving integrity. Traditional drives store data horizontally, causing data loss when bit density is too high. Perpendicular drives use thicker platters and magnetic fields to store data. They are suitable for mobile devices and prices are expected to decrease as more data fits on fewer platters. Manufacturers like Toshiba, Hitachi, Seagate, and Fujitsu are releasing perpendicular drives, with Hitachi planning to release 1-terabyte drives in 2007.
Perpendicular drives are hard disk storage devices that store data bits vertically rather than “flat” or horizontally. Vertical storage allows you to increase the capacity of your data tenfold while preserving its integrity.
Traditional hard drives store data bits horizontally across the surface of a platter. To increase the capacity of the drive, the bit sizes have been reduced to fit more data. However, when the bit density becomes too high, the magnetic particles begin to interfere with each other, causing the bits to “flip” or become inverted. This is referred to as the super para-magnetic effect and results in corrupted or lost data.
To overcome this density barrier, perpendicular drives use slightly thicker platters designed to store the “embedded” data bits vertically. A head floats above the platter, creating a magnetic field that orients data bits up or down.
For a rough comparison, imagine a bookshelf with a single layer of books arranged flat, from one end of the shelf to the other. This represents how traditional platters store data bits. Now put the books upright and press them to one side, and you can fit many more books on the same size shelf. This is the principle behind perpendicular drives.
Because perpendicular drives can hold much more data per platter, they are suitable for mobile devices such as laptops and portable audio players. For example, Hitachi points out that a 6 gigabyte micro drive used in MP3 players holds approximately 3,000 songs. Using perpendicular technology, the unit could hold 30,000 songs. Insiders say the price of the drives will continue to fall despite the new technology. Perpendicular drives should be lower per gigabyte than the standard drive of the same size, as material cost decreases when more data fits on fewer platters.
Toshiba was the first manufacturer to market perpendicular drives in August 2005. Hitachi followed, while Seagate, Fujitsu and other manufacturers are releasing perpendicular drives. The initial product is aimed at laptops and electronic devices, but general purpose perpendicular units will soon follow. Hitachi reportedly plans to release 1-terabyte perpendicular drives in 2007. One terabyte equals 1,000 gigabytes.
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