Toshiba following the union of four competitors remained the smallest hard drive player, but this does not detract from the desire to improve the methods of magnetic recording. Toshiba has long been experimenting with the technology to create media with ordered bits arrays , while many competitors see the future of thermomagnetic recording technology that involve heating of the magnetic with a laser.
Toshiba's U.S. division president has made it clear that the thermomagnetic recording is just one of the possible candidates for use in hard disk drives of the future. Heating by the laser can be replaced by heating with microwave radiation.
Toshiba is working with its partners TDK and Showa Denko KK in the field of magnetic recording technology, allowing to increase the density of stored information. Among the alternatives are considered thermomagnetic method with ordered arrays of bits (from 1 to 3 terabits PSI), as well as two-dimensional magnetic recording (up to 10 terabits PSI). Toshiba also mentions recording technology to a pre-etched tracks (discrete track recording).