Magnetic recording technology has advanced in areal density by over 10 million times, since it was first introduced in disk drives in 1957. Recently, the rate of progress in areal density has exceeded 100% per year, far outstripping the pace of Moore’s Law for semiconductor technology. Throughout this history there have been a number of innovations that have been made to enable the sustained progress. Today, however, we are approaching areal densities where a change in the form of the recording technology may be required. Longitudinal recording, which has been practiced in disk drives since 1957, is approaching densities at which recordings may become thermally unstable. This is forcing the industry to change the way disk drives are scaled and to consider alternative means of data storage. Technologies such as perpendicular recording, patterned media recording, optically assisted magnetic recording and probe storage are being considered. This talk will describe the methods that are being considered to extend longitudinal recording, the alternative technologies and their prospects for success.