FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           READ-RITE AND SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS RECORD 60 BILLION BITS PER SQUARE INCH USING PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING: NEW INDUSTRY BAR IS SET FREMONT, CA - October, 2000 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT)  and Samsung Electronics Co. today announced that they have achieved a magnetic data storage world record of 60 billion bits per square inch, over 80 billion bytes 3.5 inch platter, through the use of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) disks with inductive ring head writing. This new recording technology surpasses any previously announced perpendicular magnetic recording record. The significance of this announcement for the burgeoning consumer appliance and network attached storage (NAS) markets is the ability to expand the capacity beyond what is currently available in production today and what was believed to be possible for the near term. This new demonstration translates into over 80 gigabytes of information per 3.5-inch platter, which will allow 45 DVD or 88 VHS full-length motion pictures in a two-disk appliance.  "Today we have raised the bar for perpendicular recording even higher. The use of perpendicular recording in hard disk drives is a jumping step in the evolutionary process for the industry. Working with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) was a perfect fit for Read-Rite since SAIT had the high density perpendicular disks readily available, because these disks are also important to Samsung's hard disk drive programs," said Dr. Mark Re, senior vice president of research and development. "This accomplishment was revolutionary, not evolutionary, as it was based on the same architecture as our previous industry leading heads in areal density and data rates, and the advanced PMR disks architecture developed by SAIT. The head assembly was manufactured using our latest technologies that are currently deployed in our wafer and slider fabs, " he added. Dr. Sukhan Lee, Executive Director of SAIT, indicated that the discovery by SAIT of the possibility of perpendicular recording based on the ring head, which has been known to be difficult for high density recording, provided a driving force for this development. He emphasized "that the subsequent collaboration by Read-Rite, SISA (Samsung Information Systems America) and SAIT produced this remarkable result" . This areal density demonstration was accomplished with the use of the same basic type of integrated inductive write and advanced GMR read heads that were used in Read-Rite's record setting 50 billion bits per square inch demonstration, the high density perpendicular disks from SAIT, and a trellis-coded noise predictive read channel from Marvell Semiconductor Inc. 60 billion bits per square inch of data were written with a linear density of 750,000 bits per inch along the concentric tracks packed at a density of 80,000 per radial inch. The on-track data was read with an uncorrected bit error rate on the order of one error in over a million bits, and with an off-track capability of 16% of the track pitch. The data rate used for this demonstration was 300 megabits per second. This recording density world record for perpendicular magnetic recording also demonstrates that the "super-paramagnetic effect" is a far less concern for perpendicular recording at 60 billion bits per square inch than once believed. Measurement results show that almost no amplitude thermal decay was detected at a linear density of 750,000 bits per inch in the perpendicular magnetic disks.  Read-Rite Corporation is one of the world's leading independent manufacturers of magnetic recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and tape drives. The company is headquartered in Fremont, California and has operations in California, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore. The company's website is located at http://www.readrite.com. Read-Rite is also the majority shareholder of Scion Photonics, Inc. which designs, develops, manufactures and sells both custom and standard Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexers (DWDM) and other optical communication components to address the rapidly growing worldwide fiber-optic network expansion. The company is well funded by the backing of Read-Rite Corporation, Tyco Ventures and Integral Capital Partners. Scion's website is located at http://www.scionphotonics.com. This news release may contain statements which include forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, and is subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. The company's actual results for future periods could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to: the ability to attract and retain other optical experts, the ability to be a time to market leader for optical components, the ability to leverage the strengths of the Read-Rite business with that of Scion; and the other factors described in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 1999 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first, second and third quarters of Fiscal Year 2000 ended December 31, 1999, April 2, 2000 and July 2, 2000. Read-Rite undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of such statements. # # # # Last Updated: December 2012 ©2012 Read-Rite Corporation. All rights reserved.