PMR is the abbreviation for Perpendicular Magnetic Technology and stands for aligning the data vertically on the platter, in order to obtain more storage space using the same surface. As the data becomes denser, the read/write heads have to become more accurate. Hitachi claims a distance of only 10nm between 2 bits, climbing the storage space at a whopping 230GB/square inch.

Hitachi first entered the PMR stage in May, when it shipped Travelstar 5K160 series, the first to use PMR. After six months, they were already shipping the 1 millionth drive with more production to follow. Almost 35% of its 2.5 inch drives already incorporate PMR technology and Hitachi officials say that in 2007 the transition will be completed.

"Hitachi's ability to quickly ramp production of our first PMR product should give customers great confidence in the strength of the product, and provides a strong foundation for our next-generation 2.5-inch PMR products, which are currently under development for release in 2007," said Mr. Iwata from Hitachi

Hitachi's hard drives are currently being produced in Thailand, using PMR media from San Jose, CA and Shenzhen, China.