HRD = Hard Rectangular Drive

While majority of large storage manufacturers are focusing on more or less traditional methods (SSD) DataSlide is taking different approach. DataSlide is developing Hard Rectangular Drive (HRD). What is that?

This image shows basics of HRD.

What are advantages of this technology? From DataSlide:

capitalizes on standard base process technologies
to create a dramatically new way to store and retrieve data with magnetic media:
1. Leverage LCD process
2. Use standard HDD sputtering/plating MEMS process
3. Use HDD perpendicular media DSSC/Oerlikon-Balzers coatings

In addition to this it also features:

1. A piezoelectric actuator keeps the rectangular media in precise motion 

2. A diamond solid lubricant coating protects the surfaces for years of worry free service

3. A massively parallel 2D array of magnetic heads reads from or writes to up to 64 embedded heads at a time 

According to DataSlide it will produce 500MB/sec with less than 4W for magnetic storage device.
Technology wise, there is one head per secor with symmetric read/write. According to specification HRD is reliable as HDD (or better), can have capacity from 80 GB to 2 TB, 160,000 rd/wt compared to 35,00rd / 3,000wt for SSD.

DataSlilde has partnered with Oracle to embed Berkeley Database into storage drive. Full article is available here.

DataSlide’s Hard DB fits Oracle’s Embedded Global Business Units OEM Charter by incorporating BerkeleyDB into the actual storage device itself (essentially a low energy, cool running, high performance. shock resistant hard drive) to make a ‘smart’ storage device. The potential applications are many and varied. Examples are TCP/IP based systems and video applications requiring multiple concurrent streams, media indexing, fast positioning. forward. back. skip. scene/track will have significant perfoniiance improvements with this winning architecture.