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IEEE Magnetics Society
Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Meeting Presentation Summary




Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Western Digital, 1710 Automation Parkway, San Jose, CA
Directions and Map
Cookies, Conversation & Pizza too at 7:00 P.M.
Presentation at 7:30 P.M.

Technology Trends for Magnetic Storage
What Is The Future?

Dr. Edward Grochowski
Computer Storage Consultant

Abstract

Today’s hard disk drive has evolved through miniaturization into a small storage device with up to 2.5 Terabytes of storage, with the promise of multiterabyte products appearing in the very near future. This storage device, based on reduced form factors and large capacity, is well suited for today’s storage applications, from large server units to mobile PC’s and consumer based products. The technology which made this storage device possible includes advanced read/write heads which now include PMR, TMR, thin film media, PRML data channels and many other features which have added to the usefulness of HDD’s while significantly reducing price per gigabyte. An analysis of this technology will be given as well as projections of where newer advances could extend the applications of magnetic storage products to the future. A comparison of HDD storage to alternative non-volatile technologies including Flash memories and MRAM devices will be discussed. The challenges of advanced processing techniques will be outlined. A major part of the presentation will include trend charts, with technical rationale, to assist in the projecting the future.



Biography

Dr. Edward Grochowski

Photo of Dr. Edward Grochowski


Ed Grochowski is a well known speaker on magnetic storage technology. He began his career with IBM’s microelectronic silicon activity in New York and later joined the IBM Almaden Research Center where his interests included hard disk drive and component evolutionary trends. Dr. Grochowski holds nine patents and has authored and presented numerous articles on magnetic disk drives and component technology, including a website of storage trend charts. He has a Ph.D. from New York University in Chemical/Materials Engineering. Ed served as Executive Director of IDEMA USA and for over ten years chaired the conferences and technical committees for DISKCON USA and DISKCON Asia Pacific, as well as the prestigious Symposium series. He was a long time coordinator of the 4K byte sector standards committee. Ed is also a member of the IEEE.

As a consultant, Dr. Grochowski has been associated with Hitachi GST, IDC, TrendFocus and Coughlin Associates. With the latter, he co-authored a comprehensive 2008 storage report addressing HDD technology trends and capital equipment requirements for the industry, and plans to publish an update of this work in early 2010.

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