Even before Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have fought the final battle to take control of your average home, another gigantic threat has cast its dark shadow over them.
With hordes of fancy, futuristic storage concepts being born every other day, the death of optical media has been a topic of prolonged discussions. Realistically speaking, the cost vs. storage & speed ratio of optical media has so far given it an unbeatable stand. Instead of engaging in such fruitless discussions, the Israeli firm Mempile decided to take it one step further. They have extended the existent CD / DVD technology to offer 1 TerraByte (1,000 GigaByte) of storage on a single removable (inexpensive) disc.
The TeraDisc contains light sensitive molecules called chromophores (capable of switching between two distinct states upon the application of light ) which are arranged in three-dimensional hologram like matrices and give the disc is characteristic terrabyte storage capacity. That is when a Red Laser is used for reading and writing. According to Mempile, usage of Blue Lasers can eventually boost the capacity upto 5 TerraBytes.
However, it’s going to take at least 18 months for the first prototypes to be tested by Mempile and yet another year before this incredible disc goes into active production.
Source: Engadget, Mempile’s TeraDisc fits 1TB on a single optical disc
