Monday March 15, 2010 10:44 AM AEST

Nanotechnology leads to incredible data density

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Nanotechnology leads to incredible data density
By Justin Robinson
Feb 23, 2009 | 3 Comments
Tags: Nanotechnology | storage

Packing ten trillion bits of data onto a coin.

You've probably known about the contemporary 3.5" Hard Disk Drive - it's most likely what your operating system is installed on right now.

The current maximum storage amount you can get in these mechanical drives is two terrabytes, but a new nanoscale process can give up to 1.175TB on a disc the size of an American quarter (roughly the size of an Australian 20 cent piece).

Such incredible density (fifteen times the current highest) also requires a complicated manufacturing process, involving sliced crystals cut at specific angles, cooked for an entire day at huge temperatures, and then treated.

The whole process creates hexagonal metallic dots, each acting as a one or zero just the same as a hard drive works now.

With such a small size you start to run into problems elsewhere with actually reading and writing to such a small area, but those clever scientists reckon that with enough time (and most likely money too) the problems are definitely fixable.

Head over to Forbes to read a detailed look at the process.

 
 
Want to check out the first Australian review of Final Fantasy XIII? We got in this month's Atomic!

Plus HD projectors, Napoleon: Total War, Intel's new six-core processor, PC upgrading guide, and a whole lot more.

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3 Comments
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
smadge1
Feb 23, 2009 3:09 PM
And I thought my microfibre trousers were ho tech...
Trekker
Feb 24, 2009 5:00 AM
you never know you might be able to put a few gig on them soon ^
clockworkman
Feb 24, 2009 12:14 PM
nothing like some _ho_ tech pants eh smadge

also, nanotech is sexy
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