TDK claims HDD recording density record

At the CEATEC show kicking off today in Japan, TDK announced it has achieved a new milestone in surface recording density for hard disk drives thanks to its prototype TMR head. The company achieved the world’s highest surface recording density at 803GB/inch2, which could result in a typical single 1.8-inch double-sided disk having the capacity of 260GB. The TMR head is the same one as introduced in 2007, although TDK engineers have increased its magnetoresistance ratio by more than 80 percent while keeping its bond resistance low.

Other specs of the new technology include a recording density of 1,771kB per inch, a track density of 454,000 tracks per inch and a track pitch of 56nm.

TDK researchers have gone on record saying TMR elements could enable them to achieve even higher densities, to as much as 1TB per square inch. Previously, it was believed TMR’s higher resistance would mean it would be replaced by CPP-GMR elements in order to reach the 1TB area density.

There is no word if or when TDK would use the technology to create ultra-small, high-capacity drives for notebooks and other portable electronic devices. [via Tech-On]

TDK’s prototype TMR head