HAMR technology could boost HDD storage capacity by 500%

HAMR technology was first developed by Seagate but has since been adopted by Western Digital as well. The technology uses lasers and magnetism to greatly increase the areal density of hard drives. Western Digital claims that their implementation of the technology could boost HDD storage capacity by 500%.

Traditional methods for hard disk data storage are coming very close to reaching physical limits, so manufacturers are looking for alternatives to continue pushing drive capacity upwards. At a Chinese trade show, Western Digital has demostrated its new heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology, which has the potential for some serious increases.