History (1997): Seagate to Manufacture Magneto-Optical Heads for TeraStor

TeraStor has found a solid ally in Seagate Technology.

The number one HDD maker hasn’t yet decided to dive right into the start-up’s technology, but has signed an accord with the smaller firm to co-design and manufacture flying optical heads that incorporate solid immersion lenses (SIL), the most critical component of TeraStor’s near field recording drives.

Seagate plans to begin volume manufacturing of the heads in early 1998, when the first drives are also expected to arrive.

To our knowledge, this marks the first instance of Seagate venturing into optical technology, although the flying head incorporates both optical and magnetic elements.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue 113, published on June 1997.

Note: Born in 1996 in San Jose, CA, TeraStor closed its doors in 2000.