Toshiba announced today that their engineers have for the first time made hard drive disk prototype using bit-patterned media – a magnetic storage technology that will be used in future hard drives. By using the new technology Toshiba was able to make a prototype disk that has storage density of 2.5 terabits (Tb) per square inch. Bit-patterned media offers five times the storage density when compared to current highest capacity hard drives that have 541 gigabits (Gb) per square inch.

According to Toshiba, on current hard drives magnetic material is spread across the surface of disk and data (bits) are stored on the grains of this magnetic material, but current technology has reached its limit when it comes to storage density. The bit-patterned media technology breaks the disk surface into numerous magnetic bits with each bit consisting of few magnetic grains crammed together to form tiny spheres, which increases the surface area available for recording data.

Toshiba says these magnetic bits are organized into a pattern of rows with gaps between them, which is important because they act as markers to where data is stored. The organized magnetic bit rows allow quick location and retrieval of data.

By using the new technology Toshiba will be able to make 3.5-inch hard drives with 10TB capacity and 2.5-inch notebook hard drives with 5TB storage capacity. Toshiba says hard drives based on bit-patterned media technology should come to the market within 2-3 years, say by 2013.
[Via PC World]