• GE Pioneers Holographic Storage Technology

    GE Pioneers Holographic Storage Technology

    Techtree News Staff, Apr 27, 2009 1743 hrs IST

    Allows data worth more than 100 DVDs to be stored on a single disc

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General Electric (GE), the consumer electronics giant from U.S., has achieved a major breakthrough in storage technology with the development of a new technique that will allow large amounts of data on normal discs, reports The New York Times.

If large amounts of data were a very subjective term, here is what the real deal is. The new holographic storage technology developed by GE allows data worth more than 100 DVDs to be stored on a single disc. Considering the standard capacity of DVDs (4.7 GB), that amounts to a colossal 470GB capacity per disc. Mind you, we're talking about almost half terabyte of data per disc.

The product, which GE hopes to bring to the mainstream technology front in the coming years, is still in its testing phases and needs lots of tests to be done before this one gets its final seal of approval. As mentioned earlier, the technology is based on the principle of holographic storage about which you can learn in detail here. In brief, holographic storage is memory stored in three dimensions as well as in the "normal" binary format. The advantage of this kind of storage is that it allows for more data to be packed in the same surface area than allowed by conventional storage technolog.

Holographic storage has the potential to pack data far more densely than conventional optical technology allows. Although the techniques and basic concepts of holographic storage were etched back in the 1960s, it is only now that it is making a "comeback" of sorts.

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Discussion Board
(6) Comments
vinayak aatreya
,Thane, on Jun 14, 2009 09:18 PM
This is real amazing. We can reduce storage space by 10 times and avoid multiple disc. This one would be eagerly awaited product.
swapnil
,mumbai, on May 05, 2009 07:43 PM
its amazing to have so much data storage capacity on a single disc. hope this will come soon in use,keep on exploring such exciting information
PRAKASH
,DUBAI, on May 03, 2009 11:14 AM
wow, what a boon 2 the industry.Hope its priced reasonable.................
BigCD
,BLR, on Apr 30, 2009 12:39 PM
One scratch and your terabyte of backup is gone!! Ouch!
Asit Madeka
,Asansol, on Apr 30, 2009 08:10 AM
Just waiting for its arrival. No more lugging boxes full of CDs.
Woo Woo
,Wootown, on Apr 27, 2009 07:00 PM
Go GE, Go GE its your birthday, its your birthday

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