By Kristen Kenedy
Seagate Technology is increasing the capacity of its 2.5-inch hard drives to 160 Gbytes using a new technique called perpendicular recording.
The new Momentus 5400.3 drive provides 30 percent more storage than previous Seagate products for notebooks without increasing its physical size, and capacities will continue to grow as the new method is perfected, said Joni Clark, a Seagate product marketing manager.
Perpendicular recording changes the magnetization of the disc to a vertical plane, so data is stood upright to increase its density on the disc. In addition, a “soft magnetic under-layer” is added to effectively double the space available to store data without significantly increasing the size of the disc. The current longitudinal method lays out data horizontally. The way to increase capacity using this technology is to pack that data closely together, which already has been done, or to add platters and increase the size, Clark said.
The performance boost from the perpendicular recording technology comes without increases in power consumption or heat generation, which is crucial in enabling remote users to work longer between battery charges and system builders to pack more performance into smaller notebooks, Clark said.
Seagate also increased the drive’s toughness to an operational shock rating of 350G’s, up from 250G’s in its previous drives.
In the business market, Jennifer Shine, vice president of marketing and business development at eMazzanti Technologies, Hoboken, N.J., said business users have yet to max out current capacity levels. But she added that increased power and capability of portable systems means business users can do more on the road, and will continue to pack more data on their devices.
Carl Mazzanti is Co-Founder and President of eMazzanti Technologies, Microsoft’s four time Partner of the Year and one of the premier IT consulting services for businesses throughout the New York metropolitan area and internationally. Carl and his company manage over 400 active accounts ranging from professional services firms to high-end global retailers.
eMazzanti is all about delivering powerful, efficient outsourced IT services, such as computer network management and troubleshooting, managed print, PCI DSS compliance, green computing, mobile workforce technology, information security, cloud computing, and business continuity and disaster recovery.
Carl Mazzanti is also a frequent business conference speaker and technology talk show guest and contributor at Microsoft-focused events, including frequent prominent roles at the Microsoft Inspire (Worldwide Partner Conference / WPC).
Carl, a serial Entrepreneur, gives back to the community through Entrepreneur teaching engagements at Georgetown University, the company’s ocean wildlife conservation effort, the Blue Project, and Tree Mazzanti.
