Fujitsu Plans 160GB Notebook Drives
Company is using perpendicular recording technology to pack more data onto 2.5-inch hard disks.
Fujitsu will soon bring the benefits of perpendicular recording technology to its family of 2.5-inch hard drives.
The company is planning to launch two new drives worldwide in October, an 80GB and 160GB model, aimed at consumer laptop computers. The drives boast a high resistance to shocks, the Tokyo company said Wednesday. The 80GB model is the highest-capacity 5400-rpm hard disk yet announced by a drive manufacturer, according to Fujitsu.
Perpendicular recording is a relatively new magnetic recording method that is being increasingly employed on many hard drives.
The method, like the previous longitudinal recording, relies on magnetically charged particles for data storage. However in the new method the north and south poles of the magnetic particles are arranged perpendicular to the disc rather than running parallel to it. The result is that each particle occupies a smaller area of the disk's surface and so more particles can be crammed onto it.
Fujitsu will also begin selling versions of the drives aimed at consumer electronics products such as digital video recorders. Key features of these drives are low noise levels and low power consumption.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
