<a href="{data}/news/old_attachments/images/20020611_millipede.jpg"><img class="frame" align="left" src="{data}/news/old_attachments/images/20020611_millipede_tn.jpg" alt="Millipede"></a><a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/">IBM Research News</a> has recently announced their latest new 'world record' for storage density. <a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/news/20020611_millipede.shtml">IBM's 'Millipede' Project Demonstrates Trillion-Bit Data Storage Density</a> says: <bq>Using an innovative nanotechnology, IBM scientists have demonstrated a data storage density of a trillion bits per square inch --- 20 times higher than the densest magnetic storage available today.</bq> The breakthrough involves a return to mechanical storage, reminiscent of the punchcards of old, but this time, the card is <iq>a thin plastic film</iq> and the hole is only <iq>10 nanometers (millionth of a millimeter) in diameter</iq>. Since the holes are so small and embedded in a polymer, the same heat that created it can also be used to seal the holes back up, creating a rewritable medium. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a> has the article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/11/science/physical/11DATA.html" title="A New System for Storing Data: Think Punch Cards, but Tiny">A New System for Storing Data</a> with more information about pros and cons of the new system. <bq>.[H]ard disks store data in what is essentially a vast array of tiny magnets. But if a magnet is shrunk too small, vibrations of heat can make the magnet flip, destroying data.</bq> The plastic, non-electromagnetc storage suffers no such problems and the latest model is capable of reading and writing a single nanodot at a time. However, <iq>Millipede still suffers a big drawback of mechanical systems. Reading and writing data with a single silicon tip takes about 1,000 times as long as with hard disks.</iq> To address this, researchers use a brute force method that simply uses multiple read/write tips: <bq>[T]he research team is now building a prototype, due to be completed early next year, which deploys more than 4,000 tips working simultaneously over a 7 mm- square field. Such dimensions would enable a complete high-capacity data storage system to be packed into the smallest format used now for flash memory. ... While flash memory is not expected to surpass 1-2 gigabytes of capacity in the near term, Millipede technology could pack 10 - 15 gigabytes of data into the same tiny format, without requiring more power for device operation.</bq> This would allay speed concerns, increase redundancy (magnetic hard drives have just one read head), and pack information into a much smaller space. Millipede should also be more shock-proof than some of the larger hard-drives available today. The researchers are quick to note that the technology is still <iq>years from becoming a commercial product</iq>, but <iq>It's in a state where all the big problems are solved</iq>.