Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) has started commercial shipments of 3.5-inch hard disk (HD) media with storage capacity of 500 gigabytes per disk, using the fourth-generation perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology.

The world's largest supplier of hard disk media is currently offering 3.5-inch HD media with a storage capacity of 500GB. The company has already commercialized 1.89- and 2.5-inch fourth-generation PMR media, featuring 120GB and 250GB of capacity, respectively.

Compared with the conventional technology that stores magnetic data on a horizontal plane of the HD media, the PMR technology enables vertical magnetic recording, resulting in a dramatic increase in recording density. The majority of today's HDDs are using the PMR technology.

Furthermore, the Japansese company said that it was making preparations for timely commercialization of its fifth-generation PMR media, which will offer even larger capacities. The 5th generation of disks will offer 160GB (1.89-inch), 320GB (2.5-inch) and 750GB (3.5-inch), according to the company's product plan.