ARS Technica reports about a new technology from Toshiba and Tohoku University in Japan that could increase hard drive storage density from 178.8Gb per square inch to over 1Tb per square inch.
The proposed next-generation technology would utilize Nanocontact Magnetic Resistance (NC-MR) to boost the magnetoresistance of the drive head. Drive prototypes have demonstrated a magnetoresistance ratio that's twice as large as current read heads (140 percent at room temperature), as well as decreased resistances that should allow for further miniaturization of drive read heads.
Toshiba isn't the only company pushing hard drive areal density forward, as both Hitachi and Seagate have announced their own nascent storage technologies aimed at pushing storage densities above the 1Tb per square inch mark. At least one of these, (Seagate's heat-assisted magnetic recording) will probably be used simultaneously with the NC-MR method discussed above.