Zhu supports microwave-assisted magnetic recording

Jian-Gang (Jimmy) Zhu recently commented for IEEE Spectrum on the future of magnetic storage. The leading manufacturers of hard drives, Seagate Technology and Western Digital, are split on how to solve the longstanding debate over how to squeeze more data into a given area. “In my opinion, (microwave-assisted magnetic recording is) a nonargument.” Zhu, whose models and theoretical work laid the foundation for microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) development, feels MAMR is a step or two behind simply because companies have spent more than US $2 billion developing heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) over the years, by his estimate, whereas they’ve spent only $100 million so far on MAMR. Read the article.