Researchers in Singapore have discovered a way to bump up hard disk storage capacity to six times current figures, and all it takes is a pinch of sodium chloride — also known as chemical grade table salt.
Here’s how hard drives work at the moment. The spinning magnetic platters are covered in randomly distributed nanoscopic grains. These work in disorganized clumps of tens to form one bit of data. The latest drive models hold up to 500 gigabits of data to every square inch.
A new take on the idea, headlined by Joel Yang of Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), ditches the idea of inefficient patternless clumps and instead make slightly larger grains (ten nanometers, up from seven to eight nanometers), in regular patterns, which each store one bit. via Wired UK
Image: Jeff Kubina/Flickr
