A method of recording data to a hard disk drive (HDD). Perpendicular recording
aligns data bits vertically — perpendicular to the disk, which allows for
additional room on a disk to pack more data, thus, enabling higher recording
densities. Contrast with Longitudinal
recording.
Powering New Levels of Disc Drive Capacity (PDF) Historically, areal density has increased more than 100 percent, or doubled, every year, though that rate has dropped to about 40 percent recently because of growing challenges in increasing areal densities of longitudinal recording . a technology that has been used for nearly 50 years to record information on disc drives.
TechWorld: Perpendicular Recording The amount of data that we can store on a disk surface, in this way, is approaching its limit. As we seek to reduce the size of the charged particles we increase the risk of distortion. As a result increased areal density, the holy grail of disk manufacturing in recent years, is becoming ever hard to meet.
