Solid-state storage and memory technologies in general use less power than hard disk drives when they are active, and thus there can be power savings if some solid-state storage and memory can be used in a mixed storage technology environment in a way that reduces the spinning time of hard disk drives and thus decreases the power needs of a storage system.

FORBES: Pumping Iron and Keeping Cool

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) develops advanced hard disk drives, enterprise-class solid state drives, and innovative external storage solutions and services used to store, preserve and manage the world's most valued data.

ENGADGET: Hitachi GST's G-Drive Slim: world's thinnest 2.5-inch external hard drive

Getting to that stage might mean combining self-assembly methods with lithography, or doing away with the head that reads the data-packed disk and instead creating a self-assembling solid-state system on the model of Flash memory storage used today.

FORBES: Magazine Article

"Solid state" storage systems, like flash memory, offer some clear advantages over the spinning-disk drives of the past.

FORBES: Sun Jumps Into Flash

Its products include integrated circuits that are used in disk drives, solid state drives, high-speed communications systems, computer servers, storage systems, and personal computers.

FORBES: Earnings Preview: LSI