Toshiba introduces 200GB 2.5" drive

Toshiba has now released a hard drive based on the perpendicular recording technology. It's 200GB, 2.5" form factor (useful for notebooks / laptops). Areal density is 178.8 gigabits (per square inch).

In comparison, Hitachi has demonstrated 230 gigabits per square inch (see also PCWorld where current drives top out at 120-130 gigabits/sq inch while perpendicular should allow areal density of 230 gigabits/sq inch). Back in 2004, Toshiba demonstrated a density of 133 gigabits per square inch, which was done using the older recording technology. Back in 2002, Seagate announced drives that had areal densities of 100 gigabits/sq in. Seagate expects areal densities to hit 500 gigabits/sq in over the next few years, compared with today's current density of ~110 gigabits/sq in.

So it looks like perpendicular recording will definitely allow hard drive sizes to double and possibly quadruple over the next few years. That means we can reasonably expect 1TB drives in the short-term with the possibility of 2TB drives down the road.