Abstract

Disk drives using optical memory technology are being introduced to the market featuring high capacity, removable media. The improved capacity is available at a significant cost premium over magnetic memory devices for the drive as well as the media. While the linear bit density of present magnetic disk drives matches that of optical disk drives (see Table 1), new advancements in Barium-Ferrite (BaFe) magnetic media will soon allow magnetic bit densities to increase, exceeding optical bit densities by a factor of two or more. By contrast, track densities of removable magnetic media are 15 to 100 times less than their optical counterparts. Increasing track density to over 1000 tracks per inch on a removable, inexpensive, flexible magnetic medium has only recently been achieved by Insite Peripherals.

© 1989 Optical Society of America