The world is increasingly connected and consequently the amount of data that must be archived is reaching incredibly high levels: it is estimated that the zettabyte by 2025 . Relying solely on SSDs and hard drives to store information is not enough, and that is why an older technology beyond 60 as that of magnetic tapes is still actively used for backup tasks and above all it is constantly evolving.

The researchers of IBM and Fujifilm have announced in the past few hours that they have reached a new magnetic tape archival record, well 317 GB per square inch on a magnetic tape prototype based on strontium ferrite particles (SrFe ). “This is approximately 27 times the area density used in current commercial tape cartridges, “reports IBM.

In more concrete terms, a cartridge with this density could store 580 TB of data , i.e. the equivalent of 786. 977 CDs stacked on top of each other for an overall height of 944 meters (value that exceeds the height of the tallest skyscraper in the world, the Burj Kalifa). The current generation of cartridges are based on barium ferrite particles (BaFe) which coat the magnetic tape . “To further increase the density, Fujifilm has invented something new called Strontium Ferrite (SrFe). SrFe can be made into smaller particles with superior properties, which means a higher storage density in the same amount of tape “.

To achieve the record have been developed other complementary technologies , such as a low friction head, a detector to find and read data even with such high densities and everything needed to position the reading heads and writing with a precision never seen before, equal to 3.2 nanometers.