A system level study of Two Dimensional Magnetic Recording

Two Dimensional Magnetic Recording (TDMR) is a recording architecture proposed to extend the life of conventional magnetic recording systems. TDMR combines with Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) to increase the recording areal densities. While SMR enables the writing of tracks narrower than the writer width, TDMR correspondingly enables reading of tracks narrower than the reader width. TDMR should be used in conjunction with SMR, while SMR can be used wither with or without TDMR. Together, TDMR/SMR give the system designer full control of the bit-length and track pitch, and thus the areal density, in the recording system. In this work, we study the system level performance of a TDMR/SMR recording system, tweaking parameters such as the bit-length, track pitch, number of bits down-track and cross-track to reveal the trends and best trade-offs of a TDMR/SMR hard disk drive. The study is conducted via micromagnetic simulations, the grain-flipping probability (GFP) model and software channel simulations.