20GB iPod minis by 2007?

  Hitachi is expected to announce today that they will release denser,
redesigned hard disk drives capable of 230 gigabits of data per square inch by 2007.

The higher density drives are possible because of a breakthrough in perpendicular recording technology, which means data bits are aligned vertically instead of horizontally, allowing for more data to be packed on to a platter.

Drives that use the new technology will be available from Hitachi toward the end of this year, but they will only be capable of 130-150 gigabits per square inch using a "transitional technology." Longitudinal recording drives are expected to top out at 120 gigabits per square inch.

What does this mean for you? It means a
terabyte of data on a single 3.5" desktop drive and a 20GB microdrive in your iPod mini. And down the road, it could mean microdrives with up to 60GB on the 1" drive.