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Density (computer storage)

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426: 621:, the number of viable chips produced in a unit time. Chips are produced in batches printed on the surface of a single large silicon wafer, which is cut up and non-working samples are discarded. Fabrication has improved yields over time by using larger wafers, and producing wafers with fewer failures. The lower limit on this process is about $ 1 per completed chip due to packaging and other costs. 36: 494:
in 1957, supplied 3.75 MB for $ 34,500, or $ 9,200 per megabyte. In 1989, a 40 MB hard drive cost $ 1200, or $ 30/MB. And in 2018, 4 Tb drives sold for $ 75, or 1.9¢/GB, an improvement of 1.5 million since 1989 and 520 million since the RAMAC. This is without adjusting for inflation, which
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With the notable exception of NAND Flash memory, increasing storage density of a medium typically improves the transfer speed at which that medium can operate. This is most obvious when considering various disk-based media, where the storage elements are spread over the surface of the disk and must
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The relationship between information density and cost per bit can be illustrated as follows: a memory chip that is half the physical size means that twice as many units can be produced on the same wafer, thus halving the price of each one. As a comparison, DRAM was first introduced commercially in
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In the case of disk-based media, the primary cost is the moving parts inside the drive. This sets a fixed lower limit, which is why the average selling price for both of the major HDD manufacturers has been US$ 45–75 since 2007. That said, the price of high-capacity drives has fallen rapidly, and
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Now consider an improvement to the design that doubles the density of the bits by reducing sample length and keeping the same track spacing. This would double the transfer speed because the bits would be passing under the head twice as fast. Early floppy disk interfaces were designed for
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Generally, higher density is more desirable, for it allows more data to be stored in the same physical space. Density therefore has a direct relationship to storage capacity of a given medium. Density also generally affects the performance within a particular medium, as well as price.
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store data in the magnetic polarization of small patches of the surface coating on a disk. The maximum areal density is defined by the size of the magnetic particles in the surface, as well as the size of the "head" used to read and write the data. In 1956 the first hard drive, the
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needed to supply any particular amount of memory decreases, which in turn means less DIMMs overall in any particular computer. This often leads to improved performance as well, as there is less bus traffic. However, this effect is generally not linear.
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As fabrication has improved, solid-state memory has improved dramatically in terms of performance. Modern DRAM chips had operational speeds on the order of 10 ns or less. A less obvious effect is that as density improves, the number of
648:, who projected in 2009 that if hard drives were to continue to progress at their then-current pace of about 40% per year, then in 2020 a two-platter, 2.5-inch disk drive would store approximately 40 terabytes (TB) and cost about $ 40. 316:
was successfully used as an experimental data storage medium, but required a DNA synthesizer and DNA microchips for the transcoding. As of 2012, DNA holds the record for highest-density storage medium. In March 2017, scientists at
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this is indeed an effect of density. The highest capacity drives use more platters, essentially individual hard drives within the case. As the density increases, the number of platters can be reduced, leading to lower costs.
361:(1,440 KB) floppies in the 1980s. The vast majority of PCs included interfaces designed for high density drives that ran at 500 kbit/s instead. These, too, were completely overwhelmed by newer devices like the 288:, uses an array of many small nanoscopic wires arranged in 3D, each holding numerous bits to improve density. Although exact numbers have not been mentioned, IBM news articles talk of "100 times" increases. 230:
disks are essentially a higher-density CD, using more of the disk surface, smaller pits (0.64 micrometers), and tighter tracks (0.74 micrometers), offering a density of about 2.2 Gbit/in. Single-layer
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is needed for operation, and thus less time is needed to send the required amount of electrical charge into the system. In DRAM, in particular, the amount of charge that needs to be stored in a cell's
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introduced a hard drive with a density of 1.34 Tbit/in, more than 600 million times that of the IBM 350. It is expected that current recording technology can "feasibly" scale to at least 5 
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Other experimental technologies offer even higher densities. Molecular polymer storage has been shown to store 10 Tbit/in. By far the densest type of memory storage experimentally to date is
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1971, a 1 kbit part that cost about $ 50 in large batches, or about 5 cents per bit. 64 Mbit parts were common in 1999, which cost about 0.00002 cents per bit (20 microcents/bit).
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technologies are also attempting to leapfrog existing systems, but they too have been losing the race, and are estimated to offer 1 Tbit/in as well, with about 250 
1053: 436: 226:(CDs) offer a density of about 0.90 Gbit/in, using pits which are 0.83 micrometers long and 0.5 micrometers wide, arranged in tracks spaced 1.6 micrometers apart. 729: 305:. By superimposing images of different wavelengths into the same hologram, in 2009 a Stanford research team achieved a bit density of 35 bit/electron (approximately 3 325:
published a method known as DNA Fountain which allows perfect retrieval of information from a density of 215 petabytes per gram of DNA, 85% of the theoretical limit.
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be physically rotated under the "head" in order to be read or written. Higher density means more data moves under the head for any given mechanical movement.
211:(HAMR) and microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) are under development and are expected to allow increases in magnetic areal density to continue. 57: 44: 349:
are stored at a density of 686 bit/mm, which means that the head sees 686 bit/mm × 330 mm/s = 226,380 bit/s (or 28.3 
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For example, we can calculate the effective transfer speed for a floppy disc by determining how fast the bits move under the head. A standard 3½-
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Parkin, Stuart S. P.; Rettner, Charles; Moriya, Rai; Thomas, Luc (2010-12-24). "Dynamics of Magnetic Domain Walls Under Their Own Inertia".
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One defining electrical property is the resistance of the wires inside the chips. As the cell size decreases, through the improvements in
261:, recorded at the density of 128 bit/in on a half-inch magnetic tape, resulting in the areal density of 256 bit/in. In 2015, 184: 246:, but hard disk drives have since advanced much more quickly and eclipsed optical media in both areal density and capacity per device. 1165: 856: 372:
Although the effect on performance is most obvious on rotating media, similar effects come into play even for solid-state media like
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Storage density also has a strong effect on the price of memory, although in this case, the reasons are not so obvious.
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250 kbit/s transfer speeds, but were rapidly outperformed with the introduction of the "high density" 1.44 
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to the chips, and then through the chips to the individual "cells" used to store data (each cell holds one bit).
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M. Mallary; et al. (July 2002). "One terabit per square inch perpendicular recording conceptual design".
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store data in small pits in a plastic surface that is then covered with a thin layer of reflective metal.
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Solid-state storage has seen a similar drop in cost per bit. In this case the cost is determined by the
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Hard drives are often measured in terms of cost per bit. For example, the first commercial hard drive,
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system at 1 Tbit/in in 2007 but development appears to be moribund. A newer IBM technology,
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and Fujifilm claimed a new record for the magnetic tape areal density of 123 Gbit/in, while
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A number of technologies are attempting to surpass the densities of existing media.
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disks offer densities around 7.5 Gbit/in and 12.5 Gbit/in, respectively.
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The lead should conttain a summary of each major section of the article
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Exadrive© DC series drives, these drives come in capacities ranging 16
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When introduced in 1982 CDs had considerably higher densities than
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of all important aspects of the article. The reason given is:
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IBM claims new areal density record with 220TB tape tech
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Average selling prices of hard disk drives in $ USD
1040:Next-Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA 825: 195:. Since then, the increase in density has matched 983:Church, G. M.; Gao, Y.; Kosuri, S. (2012-09-28). 171:has a 6:1 space saving ratio over a nearline HDD 869:HP LTO-6 Media Metal Particle and Barium Ferrite 1078:Erlich, Yaniv; Zielinski, Dina (2 March 2017). 966:"Reading the fine print takes on a new meaning" 495:increased prices nine-fold from 1956 to 2018. 207:/in in the near future. New technologies like 433:The examples and perspective in this article 8: 199:, reaching 1 Tbit/in in 2014. In 2015, 167:. Nimbus states that for its size the 100TB 95:. There are three types of density: length ( 83:is a measure of the quantity of information 723: 721: 1008: 471:Learn how and when to remove this message 497: 151:. Unlike the transistor designs used in 1160: 1158: 828:Magnetic Recording, The First 100 Years 668: 56:Please consider expanding the lead to 7: 254:The first magnetic tape drive, the 25: 499:Hard drive cost per GB over time 403:also directly affects this time. 280:IBM aimed to commercialize their 730:"Tech Talk on HDD Areal Density" 424: 209:heat-assisted magnetic recording 187:, had an areal density of 2,000 34: 48:may be too short to adequately 766:IEEE Transactions on Magnetics 341:floppy disk spins at 300  87:that can be stored on a given 58:provide an accessible overview 1: 303:electronic quantum holography 1133:Shilov, Anton (2013-10-29). 824:Daniel; et al. (1999). 728:Re, Mark (August 25, 2015). 859:The Register, 10 April 2015 657:Shingled magnetic recording 447:, discuss the issue on the 1210: 874:December 22, 2015, at the 139:use flash memory to store 786:10.1109/tmag.2002.1017762 389:semiconductor fabrication 149:floating gate transistors 27:Computer storage measure 1104:10.1126/science.aaj2038 1042:Science, September 2012 1010:10.1126/science.1226355 910:10.1126/science.1197468 706:www.computerhistory.org 93:computer storage medium 1194:Computer storage media 832:. 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Index

Memory density

lead section
summarize
provide an accessible overview
bits
physical space
computer storage medium
track
surface
volume
Solid state drives
non-volatile media
magnetic disk media
floating gate transistors
DRAM
Nimbus Data
TB
TB
SSD
Hard disk drives
IBM 350
bit
in
Moore's Law
Seagate
Tbit
heat-assisted magnetic recording
Optical discs
Compact discs

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