Seagate Technology has announced it has begun shipping the Momentus 5400.3 (PDF), what it claims is industry’s first 2.5-inch notebook disk drive with perpendicular recording technology.
Loosely described, perpendicular storage increases the data density on a disk drive by storing individual bits in layers on top of each other, rather than side-by-side. Although researchers have speculated about as many as 10 distinct layers of storage, perpendicular recording currently uses two layers, effectively doubling the amount of data which can be stored in a particular area of a disk. Perpendicular storage also offers other advantages, including more efficient use of disk area, better tolerance of heat and temperature change (the disks are actually thicker), and raw performance improvements without increasing drive speeds, power consumption, and heat output.
