Save us: The future of data storage explored

A company called Colossal Storage (excellent name) in the US is developing a removable computer disk with the potential, Colossal CEO Michael Thomas claims, to store between 10TB and 10PB (petabytes) of data, or even more.

These theoretical disk drives would sit in the same footprint as today's desktop hard disks. But instead of using magnetic platters as existing disks do, Colossal's disks would use 'atomic holographic optical nanotechnology', a type of holographic storage.

Simply put, it uses ultraviolet lasers to read data stored in three dimensions, instead of the two we use on discs today.

Less simply, but more interestingly put, it uses ultraviolet light to write data, by modifying the position of a molecule to represent either a 1 or 0 binary digit within one of Colossal's FEdisks (known as 'Transparent Optical Media'). This can then be read as data with an ultraviolet laser.

And what's more, that data will remain intact for over a century, Thomas claims.

This has yet to even hit the laboratory stage, and is unlikely to until at least next year, though ComputerWorld reports production could start as soon as 2012.