Seagate breaks world magnetic recording density record

NEW DELHI

SEPTEMBER 18, 2006

Seagate Technology today announced the results of a magnetic recording
demonstration, setting a world record of 421 Gbits per square inch (421 Gbit/in2).
The demonstration used perpendicular recording heads and media created with
currently available production equipment that validates Seagate's ability to
scale the technology for the foreseeable future without major technology changes
or capital additions. Dr. Mark Kryder of Seagate unveiled the findings during
his keynote presentation at the IDEMA DISKCON show in celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the hard drive.

The demonstration is evidence of the continued momentum in disc drive
innovation, and reaffirms the disc drive as the undisputed king of storage when
capacity and cost-effectiveness are both required. At the demonstrated density
level, Seagate expects the capacity ranges to result in solutions ranging in
40GB to 275GB for 1-and 1.8-inch consumer electronics drives, 500GB for 2.5-inch
notebook drives, and nearly 2.5TB for 3.5-inch desktop and enterprise class
drives. At 2.5TB capacity, a hard drive would be capable of storing 41,650 hours
of music, 800,000 digital photographs, 4,000 hours of digital video or 1,250
video games. Seagate anticipates that solutions at these density levels could
begin to emerge in 2009.

“Today's demonstration, combined with recent technology announcements
from fellow hard drive companies, clearly shows that the future of hard drives
is stronger than ever,” said Bill Watkins, CEO of Seagate. “Breakthroughs in
areal density are enabling the digital revolution and clearly indicate that hard
drives can sustain their advantage to meet the world's insatiable demand for
storage across a wide range of market segments.”