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The ˵millipede″ concept presented here is a new approach for storing data at high speed and ultrahigh density. The interesting part is that millipede stores digital information in a completely different way from magnetic hard disks, optical disks, and transistor-based memory chips. The ultimate locality is provided by a tip, and high data rates are a result of massive parallel operation of such tips. As storage medium, polymer films are being considered, although the use of other media, in particular magnetic materials, has not been ruled out. The current effort is focused on demonstrating the millipede concept with areal densities of up to 0.5–1 Tb/in2 and parallel operation of very large 2-D (up to 64 × 64) AFM cantilever arrays with integrated tips and write/read/erase functionality. The fabrication and integration of such a large number of mechanical devices (cantilever beams) will lead to what we envision as the VLSI age of micro- and nanomechanics. In this chapter, the millipede concept millipede system concept for a MEMS-based storage device is described in detail. In particular, various aspects pertaining to AFM thermomechanical read/write/erase functions, 2-D array fabrication and characteristics, x/y/z microscanner design, polymer media properties, read channel modeling, servo control and synchronization, as well as modulation coding techniques suitable for probe-based data-storage devices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]