(Optically Assisted Winchester) An earlier disk technology under development by Seagate in the late 1990s. Magneto-optic in principle, it differed because both laser and magnetic components were on the same side of the platter. OAW used a fiber to direct light via a rotating MEMS mirror. The technology was later folded into Seagate's research on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). See HAMR, magneto-optic disk and MEMS.