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An Historical Perspective

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded on the strengths of two hard disk drive pioneers -- IBM and Hitachi. These two companies have driven the vast majority of hard disk drive developments dating back to the introduction of magnetic disk storage in 1956. Since that time, hard disk drive storage has become the primary computer bulk storage mechanism, displacing punch cards and magnetic tapes and enabling the use of computers in places such as airline reservations, automated banking, automotive applications, etc. Today, disk storage is the primary means for storing electronic information.

Accelerating into the third millennium, there is an insatiable demand for data storage. Consumers want to store more pictures, video, movies and other high-capacity multimedia content with higher capacity, performance, and reliability than ever before. Hitachi scientists are continuing to explore ways to increase areal density, performance, and reliability with technologies such as diamond-like C overcoat, perpendicular recording, patterned media and thermally-assisted recording.