Earlier this month Toshiba researchers presented a couple of papers concerning bit-patterned media (BPM) and associated head technologies at a Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Intermag conference in Washington DC. They have been working towards an areal density of 5Tbit/sq in for hard disk drives and this was by way of a progress report.

One paper with the somewhat lengthy title of “Fabrication of Ridge-and Groove Servo Pattern Consisting Self-Assembled Dots for High-Density Bit Pattern Media” discussed how bit-patterned media (BPM) composed of 1 bit size magnetic dots on a recording surface was made in a self-assembly process. This achieved a 2.5Tbit/sq in density and the dots were laid out in tracks along with servo signal patterns.

A second paper discussed advanced read/write head technology and was called “MR Ratio and RA Design of CCP-GMR Film for Over 2Tb/in2 Read Sensors.”

Toshiba has extended its Nano Contact Magneto-Resistive (NCMR) head technology to enable ultra-high sensitivity with a nano magnetic domain wall. The paper described research simulation results and key specifications of CCP-GMR (Current Confined Path – Giant Magneto-Resistance) and the resistance range for 2-to-5 Tbit/sq in NCMR heads.

Toshiba’s MK6465GSX 2.5-inch hard disk drive has an areal density of 528.5Gbit/sq in meaning 320GB per platter and 640GB in the 2-platter product. The BPM paper talks about 2.5Tbit/sq in, roughly five times denser. If it were applied to Toshiba’s current 2.5-inch drive it would give us 1.6TB/platter and a 3.2TB product. Extrapolate that to the 3.5-inch format and the numbers are even larger.

For example, Seagate’s Barracuda XT offers 2TB with four 500GB platters and a 347Gbit/sq in areal density, seven times less than the Toshiba researcher’s 2.5Tbit/sq in. If the Barracuda used the Toshiba researcher’s BPM then the resulting capacity would be 14TB. Toshiba has indicated it wants to enter the 3.5-inch drive market.

Such areal density improvement delights won’t be appearing in products for several years. The hard disk drive industry might achieve a doubling of capacity every three years say, and that would deliver a 14TB 3.5-inch drive in 2018. You could plug in a different capacity doubling period to this algorithm and get a different year. Seagate reckons we have another two or three perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) media generations ahead of us before we need to move to new technologies such as BPM though.

From: theregister

Q:

I bought a new Seagate 7200.12 500GB SATA hard drive to replace my old IDE Maxtor 200GB drive. I downloaded Seagate’s DiskWizard to clone my old drive to the new one. I connected the new drive though an usb external enclosure and ran the cloning program. The cloning ran fine and said it was successful. I turned of the computer and disconnected the IDE drive and connected the SATA drive. BIOS detected my new drive and I set it up as the boot drive, however after the BIOS splash screen all I get is a blank screen with a blinking cursor

My computer is a HP m495c Media Center pc. The motherboard is an ASUS P4SD-LA model. It has 2 SATA 150 connectors that are controlled by an ICH5 chipset. Before I tried cloning, I connected the drive and both the BIOS and Windows saw the drive. Windows saw it as an IDE drive, which is the only setting option available in BIOS.

I am wondering if I need to set the jumper on the SATA drive to 150 speed since that is all the motherboard can read. However, my SATA drive did not come with the jumper band, or whatever it is called to put around the jumper pins. Where can I get a jumper band? Would this make any difference in it being able to be used as the boot drive? I guess if all else fails I could install it as a second drive and just put all my programs on it. Thanks for the help.

When the SATA drive is connected it shows up as Third Channel Device 0 in BIOS. The IDE drive shows up as First Channel Device 0.

Sorry, one last thing I forgot to mention. After I cloned my drive the first time and it didn’t boot up, I reconnected the original drive and tried the cloning again. When I started the Seagate DiskWizard program to clone the drive for the second time, it saw the SATA drive as a blank drive even though I had just ran the cloning software.

A:

1. Problem has been solved. I guess I should have suspected the software when it only took a few seconds to clone a 200GB drive. The solution was to create a boot disk for the Seagate DiskWizard and boot into that before letting Windows start. The cloning procedure was the same as starting while in Windows and now I have my new Seagate 7200.12 up and running. Read the rest of this entry »

Q:

i have two CD-ROM and jumper are fixed in CD-ROMas cable select .no jumper in hard disk and computerDOESN’T work

A:

We need more info. Most important question is, are BOTH CD-ROM units IDE devices? – seems likely since you state they BOTH are set to Cable Select. But what about the hard drive – is it IDE also?
Three cases to consider:
Case 1 – HDD is SATA, both CD’s are IDE sharing ONE cable and IDE port. This configuration is OK with both CD’s set to Cable Select. There is NO way or need to set a SATA drive to Master or Slave.
Case 2 – HDD is IDE and the only device on ONE IDE port, and the two CD’s are both IDE and share a second IDE cable / port. Again, configuration OK with both CD’s set to Cable Select. Just be SURE the IDE HDD is set to be MASTER of its IDE port, and should be plugged into the END connector of its ribbon cable.
Case 3 – HDD is IDE and shares one IDE port / cable with ONE of the CD’s; the second CD is on a separate IDE port / cable. In this case the HDD REALLY should be set to Master and the CD on its cable should be set to Slave. It is certainly permissible to have BOTH the HDD and the CD set to Cable Select, but then it is IMPORTANT to plug the HDD into the cable’s END so it can be the Master, and the CD into the middle connector. The second CD on a different IDE port, also set to Cable Select, should be plugged into the END connector of its cable (if it is the only device on this port / cable) so it can be the port Master.
If you have these set properly and the machine won’t boot, first check three things in the BIOS Setup screens.
1. Make sure that the proper port for each device is Enabled. This is especially important if you have two CD’s on an IDE port and the HDD on a SATA port – you can’t boot from that SATA device unless its port is Enabled!
2. IF you have the HDD on a SATA port, check its mode – could be IDE (or PATA) Emulation, native SATA, AHCI, or RAID. If it is IDE Emulation it should be usable for booting in any Windows OS. However, if it is set to native SATA or AHCI and you’re using Windows XP of any flavor, you cannot boot from that SATA device that way unless the Win XP was originally installed with added SATA or AHCI drivers. And I’m sure you do NOT want to be in RAID mode with ONE HDD.
3. Check the Boot Priority Sequence. Make SURE it includes the HDD on whatever port it is connected to. In fact, as a step in figuring out the problem, set it to boot from the HDD first, and NO other choices, so it never even tries to use the CD-ROM drives for booting. Once it’s working you can change that to try a CD-ROM drive first before the HDD.
If your machine still will not start up, you probably have other problems, and the exact error messages on the screen will help a lot in diagnosing it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253513-32-jumper-setting-dell

Data recovering is a process to make available lost or damaged data that was previously available in either a hard drive or diskettes, either due to an accidental deletion or due to a disk physically damaged by shock. Data recovery was a feature accessible in older systems with MS-DOS 6 operating system.

However, the arrival of the 32 bits architecture in PC processors, and later upgraded to 64 bits, override this functionally. When data is lost, the opportunities to recover valuable or sensitive information are not lost at all. Computer data recovery software can do the job.

This type of software help people retrieve lost or inaccessible files from almost any imaginable data recovery disaster, and without the need to send your hard drive to a specialized technical service.

Computer data recovery software makes it possible for the rescue of any file more often than everybody might think. Like the old MS-Dos, modern applications not only can undelete accidentally deleted files, but also partitions, and even when power failure, software failure, or virus caused the deletion attack.

Choose the right data recovery software, which is associated with your needs. Some applications can get your files back using different utilities after the disk command, while others can retrieve the data even if the hard drive has been formatted.

System restore is another function handled by computer data recovery software. Whether logical hard drive failures or RAID reconstruction and recovery, data recovery is possible, even when your system does not recognize the drive to be rescued.

The key for you to choose the right software is by taking some time to do a search. Recognize if your data recovery problem is beyond your immediate control and even having old undelete software installed, most of the time it will not work because all of them were programmed to work in systems developed with 16 bits architecture.

Double check what every computer data recovery software offers, and be aware of those claiming to recover your files in a way outside all limits of reality, because of the saying; “if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

Data recovery is not a matter of a high price, in fact, sometimes smaller and cheaper or freeware programs can recover the files as well as the costly versions using mega-gigabytes. However, most of the small gems usually can make a few tasks in comparison with large, full-featured versions.

Again, make sure you do research and comparison before deciding on the best computer data recovery software to fit your needs.

Source: http://articles.smashits.com

Data Recovery is the process of getting back data from damaged, failed, corrupted or inaccessible secondary storage media such as hard disk drives, storage tapes, CDs, DVDs, RAID etc. Many of them would do a backup of data at regular intervals to avoid last minute surprises. Though you do a backup at regular intervals you might still have some important data on the corrupted disk. Recovery can be required due to the physical damage to the storage device or logical damage to the file system. Recovering data from logically damaged disk can be done easily when compared with the physical damage of the disk.

Recovering Data After Physical Damage>: Physical damages cause loss of data and in many cases the logical structures of the file system is damaged. This causes the logical damage which must be dealt before any file being recovered from the failed media. But most physical damages cannot be repaired by end users. Costly data recovery companies are often employed to get back the important data. Recently one of my friend had this issue and he contacted DTI Data who offers free upfront flat rate price quotes on all Hard Drive Recovery.

Recovering Data After Logical Damage: Logical damage is primarily caused by power outages which prevents file system structures from being completely written to the storage medium. The result of the file system is in an inconsistent state which can cause many problems like strange behavior, system crashes or actual loss of data. Some kinds of logical damage can be mistakenly attributed to physical damage.

Recovery Techniques: Multiple techniques are involved in recovering data from physically damaged hardware. Some damage could be repaired by replacing parts in the hard disk which alone will make the disk usable but still there could be logical damage. Every readable bit from the surface can be recovered by a specialized disk imaging procedure. After acquiring the image, it is safely analyzed for logical damage and original file system can be reconstructed.

Hardware Repair: Hardware repair is like physical recovery procedure, procedures like removing a damaged PCB, and replacing it. Some data recovery companies have procedures which are highly technical in nature and are not recommended for an untrained individual. These type of harddrive repair procedures should be handled by experienced data recovery Engineers only.

Disk Imaging: After any logical damage has been repaired, the extracted raw image can be used for reconstruction of usable data. Once this is complete then the files may be in usable form although recovery is often incomplete. Tools like DCFLdd or DOS tools such as HDClone can recover data from all physically damaged sectors.
Preventing Logical Damage: The use of file systems like NTFS 5.0, ext3 and XFS will likely reduce the incidence of logical damage. These files systems can be rolled back to consistent state which protects data both against the bugs in the file system software and latent incompatibilities in the design of storage hardware. One solution is to use hardware which does not report data as written until it is actually written.

From: http://www.techhail.com/