Matthew Bennion of G-Technology | Interview snippets from NAB BuZZ 2018 podcasts with Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan: We used to think that we're reaching the end of how far spinning media can hold, how much data spinning media can hold. And you're right, we're cramming more and more 1s and 0s into less and less space. Are we reaching the point where we're not going to be able to cram any more data into a spinning media drive?

Matthew Bennion: I keep expecting we've reached the end of these engineering feats and the team, there's more PhD's than we have lawyers or marketing people here. We actually just talked about something called microwave magnetic recording and they actually use microwaves to make those atoms grow in size so that they can magnetize them and send that in one direction or another. We pack helium in the drives, we're using magnetic waves to increase the size of these atoms so that we can we can flip them around. Every time I think we've run out, these engineers come up with some new scheme to bend the laws of physics.

LJ: Are they packing more pieces of data, 1s and 0s, on a single platter or are we just adding more platters?

MB: Both. We're doing all this stuff. They're using every single trick in the book to deliver bigger and badder hard disks.

LJ: But is it reliable?

MB: Yeah. Again, one of the things that also just happened on some of the big stuff, we use helium inside. Basically, there's a reader sitting just above the platter. It's the equivalent of a 747 flying six inches off the ground. In order to pack more data in there, we put more planners in. This caused turbulence and we all know what that's like, so what we've done is we've also introduced helium and sealed the drive and this has reduced the turbulence. We're doing so many cool things to keep the reliability up, keep that density up, and keep that performance up.

To read and hear more of this 2018 NAB BuZZ podcast, go to the Simon Says media player here.

Note: all podcast content, including the transcripts, are owned by and are the copyright of Digital Production BuZZ.

About Larry Jordan/Digital Production BuZZ

Larry Jordan is a 50-year veteran of media. Throughout his career, he has edited, produced, and directed at the local and network TV levels, and he's done extensive work with corporate training videos. He started his namesake website, larryjordan.com, in 2003 and began using his extensive industry knowledge to educate current and aspiring media professionals. He has authored nine books and thousands of how-to articles on both production and post-production.

Digital Production BuZZ is a weekly podcast that focuses on the latest trends and advancements in media technology and also shines a light on the industry's leading innovators.

To learn more about Digital Production BuZZ and Larry Jordan, head here.