IBM's "Pixie Dust" Technology

[mackstann]

I've been hearing about it for a while now, I believe the proper name is ferromagnetic or something like that. It's supposed to drive HD capacities up into the hundreds of gigabytes for consumer-level hard drives. Does anyone know exactly when they will be implementing this in mass production? Also, I remember hearing that their Microdrives could increase in capacity to 6+ Gigs. And those things are tiny!! Think of how small of a computer you could make with one of those!

 

[DAM]

Using a multi-layer coating called AFC (anti-ferromagnetically coupled) media, Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM hopes to deliver hard disk drives capable of holding 100Gb of data per square inch of hard drive space by 2003, according to IBM officials.

AFC technology consists of a three-atom-thick layer of the element ruthenium sandwiched between two magnetic layers on the hard drive disk. The resulting improvement in storage capacity is so dramatic, IBM officials said, that they are nicknaming the ruthenium "Pixie Dust."

The first IBM product to use AFC technology is IBM's Travelstar notebook. Available Monday, the Travelstar notebook's AFC hard drive offers data densities of as much as 25.7Gb per square inch of disk space, according to IBM.

Big Blue eventually plans to implement AFC technology across all of its disk drive product lines, officials said.

Within two years, the use of AFC technology could result in PC disk drives capable of holding as much as 400GB, notebook drives that hold as much as 200GB, and 1-inch IBM Microdrives capable of holding as much as 3GB of data, according to IBM officials.



shameless rip from my inforworld magazine with article btw, but too short, and not much detail.



dam()

 

[mackstann]

Hm.. Maybe it was 3GB for the Microdrives... I thought I saw 6GB. That would be so cool!! Think about it, with a HD that small, with enough capacity to install a REAL OS, you could make one heck of a small computer!!

 

[MadRat]

Perhaps 3gb "hard floppies" could be made so that we could *finally* retire the 1.44fd standard.

 

[nortexoid]

i retired my floppy long ago...the drive is in my junk drawer...all i use is cdrw.

 

[jaydee]

<< AFC technology consists of a three-atom-thick layer of the element ruthenium sandwiched between two magnetic layers on the hard drive disk. The resulting improvement in storage capacity is so dramatic, IBM officials said, that they are nicknaming the ruthenium &quot;Pixie Dust.&quot; >>


Wonder how they are going to make this cost efficient. BTW I don't think the microdrives will be fast enough to replace hard drives. I might compare them to tape drives instead.

 

[Evadman]

The 1.44 is not going anywhere. You always need a floppy drive for when you crash your HD for the final time ( I know that you can use a bootable CD ) Floppy's are just too in-grained in the industry to go anywhere. Just like they said that ISA slots were going out like what, 3 years ago Only a few boards ( I can think of 2 ) don't have a ISA Slot. Just like the 2.88 was supposed to replace the 1.44. then the Zip was gonna replace the 1.44. then the Superdisk was gonna replace the 1.44. The good 'ol 1.44 is here to stay for a long while yet. ( at least another 2 years )

 

[MadRat]

I like how floppies recycle the same set of read/write heads for each platter. Hard drives require their own sets of read/write heads for each platter, and are permanently attached to the same platters on which they are set. The floppy uses different platters in each disk cartridge but only the one set of read/write heads is necessay.

Some people don't realize the simplicity of this concept.

 

[Mapidus]

Using one set of heads with interchangeable platters has been done before. Companies like Syquest, Nomai, and Iomega built their removable hard drive storage technology based on this concept. The hard drive platters were mounted in a fat 3.5 inch disk. The idea was that these disks would take up less space and be cheaper than buying full drives.

There are several reasons this technology has been virtually abandoned. Reliability was much lower than standard hard drives because with heads separated from the platter assembly, the cartridge could not be fully sealed and so dust problems lead to cartridges going bad. Dropping the disks was also another problem. Speed was usually not up to par with current hard drives because these systems normally used previous generation head and platters. These units were also not refreshed to higher capacities as much as hard drives.

Iomega has just released a new removable storage solution that tries to fix the previous reliability problems by using a sealed cartridge where both the heads and platters are enclosed in the cartridge. Hopefully this leads to protection against dust, but dropping will still be a problem. Also, the current pricing of the drive and cartridge seem a bit high.

 

[HansHurt]

Here is another option in the area of storage

Solid state storage

Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: $204258.00
Your Cost: $204258.00





Here is a story I dug up on Floppy Disk Drives..kinda sad

Reuters Newswire July 4th, 2001:

The President of the FDDU said today that the alarming reduction in jobs for FDD's is a serious concern, and will be addressed at the upcoming National FDDU meeting in NYC this Friday. Songs like &quot; I/O, I/O it's off to work I go&quot; that used to be heard resounding in homes are being replaced by murmurings of obsolescence, and forced paper weight duty. One loyal worker was quoted as saying &quot; Whirrrrr....whiiirrrrr...&quot; while another long time disc jockey said &quot; ch ch ch ch ch....ch ch ch &quot;. Things are obviously, starting to spin out of control, and temperatures are running high. The President of the FDDU is planning on appealing to all parties concerned for training, and upgrading; whether this plea falls on receptive ears remains to be seen. ----- H.H.