Sony preps 5X boost to hard drive storage

Sony has revealed a new technology it says will make large hard drives possible even with notebooks. Rather than use a traditional magnetic read/write head, the new development uses a hybrid of magnetic and optical technology to greatly increase the density: while the storage itself is similar, media is written to disk using a laser. The extremely small, precise nature allows it to fit far more bits of data on any given area. A full terabit (125GB) can fit on a single square inch -- five times the space of conventional hard disks, Sony says.

The gain should result in notebook hard disks that store as much as 150 hours of HD-grade video and would translate to a 1.6TB hard drive using the same design as today's 320GB hard disks. Sony itself has no immediate plans to produce the hard drives and has no timetable, but says it will work with hard drive manufacturers to introduce shipping products in the future. [via Nikkei]

Filed under: upgrades/storage
Other story tags: sony