Seagate Technology Inc is claiming to have demonstrated the world’s highest disk drive areal density of greater than 16 billion bits per square-inch – nearly three times the storage capacity per square inch of any hard disc drive shipping today, it says. Data transfer rates reached 214 million bits per second, another record, the company says. The density was achieved by using merged read-write giant magneto-resistive (GMR) heads and ultra-smooth alloy media, both designed and manufactured by Seagate, which plans to ship disc drives utilizing advanced GMR heads later this year. It currently delivers a 50 Gbyte drive in a 3.5-inch form factor.