Hitachi announced that they have successfully developed a new technology to increase the density of disc-based HD up to 2.5 Tbits/inch2. With these figures, in theory they could obtain a storage capacity of 10 TB on a 3.5" HD — in other words 2.5x more than the current perpendicular recording technologies.
To reach such density, Hitachi developed new magnetic heads associated with laser beam, able to emit a ray of only 20 nm in diameter. This laser will warm the area where data will be saved. By making magnetic particles easier to be manipulated, the surface (tracks) required would then be smaller. Hitachi did not reveal any availability for this product. Indeed, so far any HD manufacturer that tried to warn the magnetic surface with a laser before writing data on the surface had to face a major problem; the weight of the laser beam. Indeed, this mechanical part would have physical constraints making access time in reading and writing modes potentially less effective.
