A new press release on Hitachi website, now a Western Digital division, shows that the increase in hard drive capacity can be achieved by other methods.
Hitachi engineers offer to pump the interior of the hard disk with air and helium. This gas has a seven times lower density, and reduced aerodynamic drag and the forces acting on the plate allows Hitachi to place in a standard case sizes 3.5 "not five, but seven platters! In Addition, helium has the lowest thermal conductivity, which is beneficial to the temperature mode of the hard disc..
Keep in mind that the relevant innovation will be used in the server segment, since this is where the use of exotic solutions is justified because of the high need for more storage capacity and reduce the cost of maintaining them. Helium-filled hard drives also consume less energy - 23%. The energy consumption per terabyte capacity improves by 45%. Samples of new drives are also heated by four degrees Celsius lower. In data centers, it will reduce the cost of cooling equipment.
The first production of hard drives filled with helium, will come to market in 2013.