Discrete tracks-possibilities for high-density magnetic disks?

Future rigid-disk magnetic data storage systems that will require recorded track widths approaching 1 mu m by the end of the next decade are discussed. Discrete-track magnetic recording has allowed the scaling of the readback signal characteristics to be determined for track widths as narrow as 0.5 mu m. The suppression of edge noise present in continuous thin-film recording media coupled with the elimination of noise from the guardband between tracks may offer performance advantages for discrete tracks at very narrow track width.<
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