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Boffins increase hard-drive capacity with salt

by on17 October 2011



Vinegar drives on their way


Boffins in Singapore have worked out that they can increase the capacity of hard-drives using table salt.

Salty drives can be boost the capacity of computer hard disks by six times, probably more if they use the right type of fish with really crisp batter. The breakthrough was made by Singapore's national research institution the Agency for Science Technology and Research, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and the Data Storage Institute and the cafe.

What they did was come up with a process that can increase the data recording density of hard disks to 3.3 Terabits per square inch by adding a pinch of salt to the manufacturing process the pattern of bits on the surface of each magnetic disk was neater, allowing more to be crammed in. The salt improved the resolution of the electron beam used to “print” the bits.

According to the Daily Telegraph the method can give a very high contrast and the boffins can see fine lines that would normally be blurred out/ Salty drives could be commercialised by 2016, particularly the boffins can get sponsorship from crisp makers. Current techniques run out of fuel and hard drive manufacturers need to find alternate methods" of increasing data storage space. It could mean that hard-drives are sold wrapped in newspaper.

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