The “A-Drive” is one of the world’s thinnest 5mm hybrid hard drive in a 2.5-inch form factor. Increased storage capacity, reduced power consumption, and at a lower cost of manufacture.
A*STAR’s Data Storage Institute (DSI) launches next generation 5mm hybrid hard disk drive.
S. Iswaran launched the drive to commemorate 20 years of R&D by the Data Storage Institute (DSI) into data storage capabilities.
“We have managed to fit an amazing amount of innovation and advanced technology into a thinner, cheaper, and faster design, and we think the consumer and enterprise impact will be significant,” said Dr. Pantelis Alexopoulos, Executive Director of DSI.
Iswaran is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry.
The “A-Drive” has capacities of up to 1TB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with 32 GB Solid State Drive (SSD), allowing it to store over 250,000 songs.
The “A-Drive” addresses limitations of the popular and fast but expensive flash-based SSD, as well as the conventional HDD for the consumer and business industry.
DSI’s “A-Drive” is targeted at tablets, ultrabooks, and future data centres.
With its slim form factor, the “A-Drive” could fit into tablet devices, greatly expanding its storage space while extending battery life by up to 30%.
The innovations for the HDD portion of this A-Drive should be applicable to the manufacture of conventional hard disk drives as low-hanging fruits for monetising the research investments.
The “A-Drive” will be a cheaper alternative to the SSDs currently used in ultrabooks, offering the same instant-on capability but with larger storage capacity.
How much will it cost?
Dr. Alexopoulos reckons that a 500GB A-Drive with 32GB Flash memory could have a sale price of US$60 (S$73).
From here, it could take from six to eight months for the A-Drive to hit the market.
For enterprise storage applications, the “A-Drive” reduces power consumption by up to 50%, resulting in greener and more efficient data centres with better optimisation of the already limited rack space.
One of the main challenges in reducing the thickness of current 7mm hard disk drives by almost 30% without compromising on its performance and stability is its spindle motor design.
“Our capabilities today have been the result of two decades of collaboration with industry partners around the world …We look forward to future partnerships as we continue our drive towards new innovations that will shape the data storage landscape,” said Dr. Alexopoulos.
To achieve a reduction in size, DSI researchers developed a proprietary axial field motor which runs smoother, quieter, and more efficiently – lowering power consumption by up to 70% – but costing only a fraction of the cost of SSDs.
The motor’s design has been patented, along with 30 other unique designs for the “A-Drive”.
In addition, DSI has collaborated with multinational corporations and local companies, such as Seiko Instruments, Miyoshi, and Unisteel, to develop key components for the “A-Drive”.
Why is DSI developing this technology?
Data storage manufacturing is an important sector for Singapore’s economy.
DSI’s research into data storage innovation enables Singapore to shift from assembly of hard disk drive components towards higher value-added activities such as hard disk drive design and hard media research.
In the 20 years since its founding, DSI has enabled data storage companies in Singapore to move up the value chain, creating high-value jobs and refining job skills in the process.
