Disks with a capacity of 240 TB are coming

As SSDs keep getting cheaper, the appeal of classic magnetic hard drives is diminishing. However, they are still very useful in industrial settings. And it will be like this for some time, as we are once again in the trend of increasing prices for SSD drives. If you want the highest capacities, you should choose an HDD. That's why Seagate introduced a new hard drive technology that is expected to increase capacities up to 240 TB per drive in the next (about ten) years.

The latest heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) in state-of-the-art drives offers up to twice the data density compared to traditional rectangular magnetic recording (PMR) technology in hard drives. A research team from Seagate Technology, NIMS, and Tohoku University has now successfully demonstrated multi-level HAMR, enabling even greater data density.

The basic concept of multi-level magnetic recording is obviously not new. The only problem is finding the right material. A team led by Seagate has now found it: two FePt-C nanogranular films separated by a Ru-C spacer layer with a cubic crystal structure.

By adjusting the laser power and magnetic fields during writing, the FePT layers can be treated independently, doubling performance. If that's not impressive enough, the researchers believe that this approach can also be used for three- or even four-level recording.