GE introduces micro-holographic disc supporting 500 GB of storage capacity

GE has developed micro-holographic disc that supports 500 gigabytes of storage capacity in a standard DVD-size disc! This is equal to the capacity of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs or the hard drive for a large desktop computer. The micro-holographic disc can be read with systems similar to today’s Blu-ray and DVD Players.

Says Brian Lawrence, head of GE’s Holographic Storage program:

“The day when you can store your entire high definition movie collection on one disc and support high resolution formats like 3D television is closer than you think.”

Optical storage formats vs. holographic storage

1. DVDs and Blu-ray discs store info only on the surface of the disc while the holographic storage technology uses the entire volume of the disc material. Multiple images can be placed in the same area, read by light at different angles.
2. While CDs and DVDs store information in a liner fashion, holographic information storage is parallel, resulting in faster data transfer rates.
3. GE’s holographic storage technology formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and BDs.

It has been over 6 years that GE has been working on holographic storage technology. GE says that their researchers also have been very focused on making the technology easily adaptable to existing optical storage formats and manufacturing techniques.

It is being said that since GE’s micro-holographic discs can be read and played using similar optics to those found in standard Blu-ray players, the technology will pave the way for cost-effective, robust and reliable holographic drives that could be in every home!

(Source: GE press release)