Larger Disk Blocks or Not

The recent annual compound growth rate of disk drive areal density has been 100% a doubling of capacity every year. This growth rate is faster than Moore’s Law advances in disk technology have been outpacing advances in semiconductor technology. Part of the reason for this spectacular growth rate is that areal density is a two-dimensional problem. Succeeding product generations increase both the number of tracks per inch (TPI) radially and the number of linear bits per inch (BPI) circumferentially. However, both parameters are facing technical challenges that may slow the rate of capacity growth. In this paper, we will briefly examine some of the obstacles to increased BPI and propose an increase in sector size as an aid to surmounting them.