Perpendicular recording
Old-school longitudinal recording works by laying magnetic elements (which represent bits) flat against the surface of the disk platter, like a row of dominoes laying face up. But perpendicular recording stands the bits on their ends, which means more can occupy the same amount of room.
Longitudinal recording has an estimated limit of between 100 and 200 gigabits per square inch, but perpendicular recording technology is said to allow densities of up to 1 terabit per square inch. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that longitudinal recording has just about had its day.
You can get a better idea of how perpendicular recording works by watching this (surprisingly humorous) flash video, courtesy of Hitachi.
On to the specs.
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