Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has announced a new storage technology allowing for a density of 230 gigabits per inch. For us consumers, this means we'll start seeing 3.5" hard drives with a 1TB capacity in 2007 (not too hard to believe), and Microdrives with 20GB capacities. Expect Apple's product announcement of an "iPod mini photo shuffle" in the near future. Also, here's a quote from the HGST rep that made me guffaw:

Toshiba has commercialized a 0.85 inch hard drive using a perpendicular recording system, but this eliminates the merit of the "large capacity" aspect of hard drives. We think 1" is small enough.

He's sort of right, but "enough" is a damn dangerous word.

Press Release [HGST]

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