Despite the breakneck escalation of drive capacities, readers can see that this technology has remained fairly constant over the last 10 or 20 years. The coatings and platter counts may change, and the BIOS may account for ever more cylinders, but the drive structure itself remains fairly constant. The early 21st century, however, is going to cast this model aside. Just prior to this writing, the company announced its new Microdrive a 340MB disk drive weighing less that a AA battery. Further, in bringing us toward the 20GB hard drive and beyond, Big Blue has capitalized on some fascinating physics discoveries.
Some technologies deserve to succeed but never do.
The solid state drive has a long technological history, but remains frustratingly cost prohibitive for all but the richest corporate customers. PC prophets have foretold of light-based computers for years. Unfortunately, this technology has yet to break through the clouds. However, optical technology is being used in conjunction with today s magnetic media technology to yield some astounding results. And it gets weirder.