perpendicular

noun or adj.

But with some drives now topping out at 500 gigabytes, the miniaturisation is nearly at its limit. Made any smaller, the particles can begin to interfere with the magnetism of their neighbours. The result is disastrous for data.

By storing bits in a vertical, or perpendicular, arrangement, engineers are able to boost capacity by taking advantage of the real estate that is freed up.

[ A boost to hard drive capacity ]