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Chriss Swaney
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For immediate release:
March 18, 2003

Carnegie Mellon Researchers to Develop New Diagnostic Tool to Improve Data Storage

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University Chemical Engineering Professors Lee White and Jim Schneider will discuss their work to develop a new diagnostic tool to improve nano-thin lubricants at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans, La. The meeting starts March 26.

Carnegie Mellon scientists are working to develop a new diagnostic tool to improve the way nano-thin lubricants inside a computer hard drive assist in data storage. The electrical components inside most hard drives - the circuitry - shouldn't be trusted to last more than two years. But the interior platters - disks inside the drive that store data are typically made of aluminum, glass or ceramic coated with magnetic media - can store files for more than 10 years.

Carnegie Mellon researchers are developing a new diagnostic tool to help the manufacturers of hard drives better understand how these nano-lubricants operate and how they can be improved to make data storage better and more economical.

The research is being funded by Seagate, one of the world's leaders in hard drive development.

For additional information about this research, please go to: www.cheme.cmu.edu/who/faculty/white.html.