In an effort to push innovation in the hard drive market, Fujitsu is working on a technology that would allow the manufacturer to pack up to 1.2TB on just two 2.5-inch platters. The company is planning on leveraging a new perpendicular recording method combined with nanotechnology. This creates ordered, tightly packed 'nanoholes' capable of storing bits of information.

"Fujitsu is the first company to demonstrate read/write signals in individual ideally ordered alumina nanohole using a flying head for measurement. With the growing demand for hard drives with high capacities, especially in small form factors, one Terabit/in(2) would enable potential storage capacities of up to 1.2TB on a 2-platter 2.5" drive. We expect this breakthrough to provide revolutionary changes for various IT and consumer applications."
By contrast, current 1TB 3.5-inch drives may require three to five platters to reach that mark. Fujitsu estimates the new drives will be ready for production by 2010, although by that time we'll probably be rocking larger hard drives on our computers.