The contest between HDD units' manufacturers has already reached an all time high. As we told you in out previous articles on the subject, Seagate Technologies has announced the launch of 10 new products, out of which one, the 2.5 inch 160GB notebook HDD, is using the perpendicular technology.

The implementation of this technology represents a very important step in the American manufacturer's competition with the Japanese from Hitachi and Toshiba. The two companies, despite announcing their intention to launch this technology, have come up with nothing solid so far.

The main target of the products using perpendicular technology is represented by the portable devices, either notebooks, iPods, or any other products from the same range. In fact, portability being an ever increasing trend, all the major manufacturers are doing their best to face up to the challenge, by launching solutions that offer more storage space, occupy less space and are less expensive.

But the ace up Seagate's sleeve is actually the other technology currently under testing in the company's research centre from Pittsburgh, the heat-assisted magnetic recording, developed with the help of the Carnegie Mellon University's Data Storage Center, which is believed to be the technology that will replace perpendicular writing in about 5 years from now.

Well, we just have to wait and see what the future brigs us�or is it already here?