Researchers Use Table Salt To Increase Hard Drive Density Six-Fold
Researchers Use Table Salt To Increase Hard Drive Density Six-Fold
Posted 10/14/2011 at 11:02am
| by Brad Chacos
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Think the 4TB hard drives hitting the market now are impressive? You’re right. But one group of researchers say that’s nothing compared to the storage capacities that could be unlocked using a new technique they’ve discovered. Dr Joel Yang and his team from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore claim that simply by adding table salt to an existing lithographic process, they have come up with a way of increasing the information density of HDDs six-fold. Basically, 6TB of info could fit onto today's 1TB platters.
Yang and his team use “an extremely high-resolution e-beam lithography process that produces super fine nano-sized structures” to create the high-density disks, the Institute’s press release (PDF) says. The addition of sodium chloride to an existing, unnamed lithographic solution lets the crew “produce highly defined nanostructures down to 4.5 nm half pitch” – without an equipment upgrade.
That precision allows the team to arrange the nanoscopic magnetic grains on the disks in a tightly-packed pattern, as opposed to the random splattering of grains found on standard HDDs. Whereas standard HDDs have an information density of around 0.5 terabits/sq. in., Yang’s refined process has created disks with densities up to 3.3 terabits/sq. in. However, the number is a bit deceiving; while 3.3 terabit/sq. in. disks have been fabricated, the crew has “only” demonstrated data-storage capabilities in disks with 1.9 terabits/sq. in.
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onisuriyuuu
October 20, 2011 at 9:29pm
If you've been following silicon news and stuff This could be quite easily explained.
Silicone is produced using sand and turning it into i believe silica which is melted down into a crystaline structure. However the Raw Crystaline structure is very unstable and useless at this point, the Crystaline structure is then re molded into a single mold which FORCES the crystals to realign into uniform structures. Taking salt is also a crystal... so is sugar, The Silocones Crystal structure looks like this number sign # < as you can see it has a gap between it, tightly packing the grains of salt within the crystaline structure and making it "whole" you create a higher density of crystaline material (silocone platters...) so now your structure esentially looks like..... well * < ? theoretical filled hole in the number sign. So i wonder if they use Sugar, will they achieve the same result or even better? 1000000000000PETA BITE PLATTERS? :D
Keith E. Whisman
October 16, 2011 at 10:10am
I wonder if that salt alternitive NO SALT will work just as good or not at all. BTW I just sprinkled table salt all over my laptop and I've noted no increase in performance or anything else other than my laptop becoming a little uncomfortable to be used by the grittyness of the salt. It's like resting my palms on sand paper.
grexxman
October 17, 2011 at 11:05am
I made the same mistake at first. You actually have to crack open your hard drive and pour the salt in. Now, despite my machine's sudden onset of severe hypertension and the terribly painful grinding noise coming from within it, it's speedier than ever and I now have 6 petabytes of free space!!
Sir Flannel
October 15, 2011 at 4:23pm
"Whereas standard HDDs have an information density of around 0.5 terabits/sq. in., Yang’s refined process has created disks with densities up to 3.3 terabits/sq. in. However, the number is a bit deceiving; while 3.3 terabit/sq. in. disks have been fabricated, the crew has “only” demonstrated data-storage capabilities in disks with 1.9 terabits/sq. in"
So, instead of a 6x increase, they "only" manage about 4x? Geesh, lazy dorks.
joepullin
October 15, 2011 at 4:15pm
Will Mayor Bloomberg allow these to be sold within city limits?
Zoandar
October 15, 2011 at 3:20pm
If you immerse the drive in salt water, not only with the density increase, but the access speed will increase due to better cooling of the drive. :) Liquid cooling for hard drives!
titan8813
October 14, 2011 at 8:57pm
In related news, food safety activists are already lobbying for the FDA to enact legislation to require hard drive manufacturers to include Nutrition Facts labels on all hard drives shipped using this technology. We'll keep you updated on this story as it continues to unfold.
CalDrumr
October 14, 2011 at 4:32pm
"Mmm, time to add some more salt to these fries.
Crap, I spilled it all over the workbench!
Wait a second..."
Eoraptor
October 14, 2011 at 3:04pm
so, within a year or two I'll be able to download my consciousness onto platters finally?
SCORE!
essjay22
October 14, 2011 at 2:42pm
Must be April in Singapore. Or they already had their limit in beer and margaritas.
Coldrage
October 14, 2011 at 11:49am
So if I put salt in my 1TB hard drive it will become 6TB?
I will try it.
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