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Not futuristic, but here, now. This article shows what WD is up to which looks very promising: Helium-filled WD drives promise huge boost in capacity - Computerworld
Helium-filled drives
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emperor76
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Is it true the worlds helium stores are supposed to be running out in the next 30-50 years, and it's used to cool mri scanners, obviously not a worry for these hard drives and if they can waste it on balloons then why not I suppose
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Once heard that helium is derived naturally from radioactive decay so if that's true, I wouldn't expect to see the world running out of it too soon (meaning practically never).
Helium is the second-most common element in the universe. There are "experts" claiming that our "supply is running low", and perhaps the way we currently isolate helium won't last us for but 50 more years, but they overlook that we will just find other ways to isolate helium. There is plenty of helium, everywhere.
WYSIWUG
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What so good about helium in a HDD? The second most available thing in our universe.
Air resistance is one of the biggest limiting factors in drive capacity currently. We can't add more plates or spin them faster because they'll wobble. Sealed drives filled with helium instead of air offer a virtually resistance-free environment for the drives.
WYSIWUG
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If a CD-ROM explodes at 24000 RPM, and if you could, spin the HDD platters at that speed, will the platters explode?
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You would have a floating HDD (just kidding).
emperor76
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To be fair I wasn't sure how it was acquired, a friend told me a few months ago and when I seen the post I found this BBC News - Helium shortage prompts scientist's balloon use warning "It is usually mined as a by-product of natural gas extraction. But resources are finite and demand is increasing, which is why supplies are restricted". But on a lighter note, I had never heard of the advantages of helium in hard drives, sounds good, will it be expensive?
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