Seagate Ships Perpendicular Drive

Seagate on Tuesday began shipping its first notebook drive using perpendicular recording, which was first announced last June. By standing bits of data on end, rather than flat on the drive's surface, Seagate has achieved 160GB of storage in a 2.5-inch form factor.

Seagate's Momentus 5400.3 is not cheap, however, with a retail price of $325 USD. A 120GB model runs $240 USD, and a 7,200-RPM version is slated to follow later this year. Hard drives using parallel recording can store about 100 to 120 gigabits per square inch. With the new perpendicular method, drives can store 230 gigabits in the same space.