techpaedia

10x bigger hard drives with nanotubes

July 7th, 2006

Following some research funded by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) at Seagate, it was found that nanotubes that leak a lubricant vapour could lead to 10x bigger capacity hard drives!

The technology is based on the concept that more information can be stored on a magnetic hard drive by heating it. However, until the nanotubes came into play, it was impossible to operate hard drives at such temperatures because they cause all the lubricant to evaporate. This in turn leads to the recording head crashing onto the the surface of the disk and damaging it.

The nanotubes allow the lubricant to leak out slowly as the disk spins and covers its surface. Also, because the hard drive is sealed, the lubricant vapour cannot escape and it is expected that the nanotubes will hold enough lubricant to last the lifetime of the drive.

After combining this technology with heat assisted recording, Seagate expects to achieve storage densities of several terabits per square inch, 10 times more than is possible today.


What are Nanotubes? (Wikipedia Link)

[Via NewScientistTech]

Entry Filed under: Gadgets