In October, Western Digital unveiled a new version of its helium-filled high capacity hard drive with a 14TB capacity. Now, Seagate has announced plans to release a 20TB hard drive by 2019, establishing the next battleground for the two companies as they jockey for position in terms of storage space.
Seagate has developed a new technology that is being referred to as Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR). It uses a minuscule laser — smaller than a grain of salt — to heat the recording surface, drastically reducing the amount of energy it takes to magnetize the necessary components, according to a report from Tom’s Hardware.
HAMR is apparently very scalable, with Seagate being able to increase its areal density by 30 percent annually over the last nine years. It currently stands at two terabytes per square inch, which is twice the density of leading hard disks that use Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology.
Conversely, Western Digital uses a technique called Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording, which uses microwaves in the place of lasers, according to a report from Tech Radar. The absence of lasers makes its drives more reliable, according to the manufacturer.
Of course, Seagate has good reason to take a bet on HAMR — it could potentially allow the company to get ahead of its rival Western Digital. The former expects to be fielding 40TB drives as early as 2023, while the latter expects it will be at least 2025 before it can do similar.
Both companies are obviously going to maintain that their own implementation of the technology is the best available, and so these projections might turn out to be more optimistic than realistic. Still, it seems clear that both Seagate and Western Digital are confident that they can continue to push the limits on hard drive technology over the next few years and beyond.
Western Digital remains on top for the time being, but Seagate is already prepping a 16TB hard drive that is set to make its debut in 2018 – and competition will no doubt remain fierce from there on out, as neither company wants to let the other establish a clear lead.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.