10 terabytes on a single disc? No kidding!

Yes, you heard that right… a single DVD-sized disc can store 2,000 times more than a single DVD for real now.

Although it is still not commercially available in the markets, but research engineers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, at an online news conference demonstrated this new storage technology.

How does it work?

The technology makes use of extremely tiny gold particles called “nanorods”. The date is stored in a 3D space using different colors and different polarizations of light — the two other “dimensions”, making it a 5D storage medium.

Richard Evans, an engineering professor, explains it better:

“Using three colors and three polarizations, you can get nine data sets written in the same exact spot.”

The new technology is backed by Samsung Electronics but it is expected to be commercially available only between five to ten years from now. That’s sad!

The next steps at the research lab:

• Testing the technology on an actual DVD-sized disc
• Develop an optical drive that should work with it
• Try different nanorod materials that should shall bring down the actual cost of the discs

Competition?

A new method of 3D storage that could support 500 GB of storage on a DVD-sized disc was recently announced by GE. We have already covered this news in a separate article. You may click here to read about it in detail.

In separate questions raised by the press, the research engineers clarified that both 3D and 5D storage technologies could be made backwards compatible with existing optical drive technology. This means consumers would be able to play back their CDs, DVDs or Blu-Ray on the 3D and 5D drives.

The 3D and 5D technologies are definitely going to boost the storage capacities exponentially in the time to come.