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Toshiba Tests Super High Density 2.5Tb Tech

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Nearly five times over what we have now.

Are we all about the SSDs these days? From a performance standpoint, yes, but for mass storage needs, it's tough to beat the magnets.

Toshiba is devoting time into the old hard disk realm and have come up with a way to fit lots more data on a given space. The company claims to have successfully produced a hard disk where the magnetic bits are organized in rows; this is called bit-patterned media.

With its bit-patterned prototype, Toshiba said that it has achieved a density of 2.5 terabits per square inch. This is way ahead of what's available on current drives, which top out at 541 gigabits per square inch.

It'll be a while before we see drives based on this technology, however, as Toshiba doesn't see these hitting the market before 2013, according to IDG.

Read more from the EETimes.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
40 Comments Comment from the forums
  • squiggs77
    Is the 2013 timeframe due to R&D and Manufacturing or due to marketing like with the CDROM speeds back in the day?
    Reply
  • Stryter
    ^ Probably R&D. I would think it would market itself. That is a lot of storage. By 2013, SSD prices will have dropped but I don't think they will have the same capacity (at a competitive price) as the good ole HDD. For mass/cheap storage, HDDs are going to be around for some time to come.
    Reply
  • insider3
    By 2013 SSDs should have an adequate amount of storage. At least enough for the enthusiasts. Still, 2.5TB per square inch is amazing. I can just use that as a cheap archive drive.
    Reply
  • matt_b
    By 2013, I'd be curious to see if 2.5tb is still as impressive as it sounds at this moment.
    Reply
  • oxxfatelostxxo
    By 2013, I'd be curious to see if 2.5tb is still as impressive as it sounds at this moment.

    They arnt talking about a 2.5tb drive, they are talking about per in(2).
    equivalent to around a 10tb drive on 3 platers. And 10tb is alot of disc space.
    Reply
  • dark_lord69
    matt_bBy 2013, I'd be curious to see if 2.5tb is still as impressive as it sounds at this moment.This could mean drives as big as 10TB though!
    Reply
  • Fetal
    Good. but SSD's are future for us gamers.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    Considering they squeezed in almost 5 times the density on the same size its not hard to imagine they would manage a 10-15TB 3 1/4 drives if they cant push the denisty even higher in the same size as todays regular drives.

    SSD definatly have the speed but the HDD's still stand for the bulk storage and im quite sure SSD prices will still be to high for consumers to have the bulkstorage based on the tech, i predict most computers will have a SDD for system disk and a HDD for bulk storage.
    Reply
  • Trashit
    Keep in mind that there are more benefits to higher platter density. It can also mean faster access and transfer speeds. Anyone who uses a NAS for their storage needs with multiple users will be very excited bout this tech :)
    Reply
  • wildwell
    Reliability? Heat?
    Reply