Patterned media (also known as bit-patterned media or BPM) is a potential future hard disk drive technology to record data in magnetic islands (one bit per island), as opposed to current hard disk drive technology where each bit is stored in  within a continuous magnetic film. The islands would be patterned from a precursor magnetic film using nanolithography.
Structured storage (also known as bit-patterned media or BPM) is a potential future hard disk drive technology that stores data on isolated magnetic islands (one bit per island), unlike current methods which store bits in a continuous magnetic film. The islands are created using nanolithography from an initial magnetic material.