The hard drive is closer to 5,000 GB

Devices stored on personal computers will reach 5 terabytes (TB) in capacity with the heat-assisted recording method (HARM) developed by Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu. As a result, they can create smaller magnetic areas and reduce the size of the drive.

The company tested the technique of creating tiny spots on the hard disk surface and "heating" them with lasers. Heat will work to increase magnetic areas on the disk, causing the device to record 1 terabit (Tb) per square inch. Meanwhile, current recording techniques only record 421 gigabit (Gb) / square inch. Thus, with the same size, the drive using heat-assisted technology can reach a capacity of more than 5,000 GB (5 TB).

To achieve this, they added a laser lamp and optical element to the read / write head to focus the laser to tiny spots on the disk surface and efficiently transfer heat. Fujitsu uses the optical element of the layer on the reader / writer to create a storage point of size 88 nm x 60 nm.

They think this is a promising method to bring storage devices to new thresholds. " Heat-assisted technology is a turning point in developing high-density data logging techniques ," said Joel Hagberg, its marketing and engineering director.

About 3 years hard disk using HARM will be available in the market. And storage devices using orthogonal recording technology create a capacity of 1 TB will appear next year with manufacturers such as Seagate and Western Digital.