New data storage device...

[Guthwulf]

I happened to be just hopping around the net, killing time, when I came upon something incredible. Thanks to studies in nanotechnology, a new data storage solution could be on the way. Using Hydrogen atoms and Fluorine atoms(one counting at the "ones" the other as the "zeroes&quotengineers believe that one square centimeter(about the size of your little finger's fingernail) would be capable of holding over 9,000 terabytes of information. That's not a typo. In other words, the equivalent of 1 million 9GB harddrives. The engineers have many of the problems facing them solved already, and are constantly working on the rest. Any thoughts?

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

Do you have a link perhaps?

I remember a few months back seeing information about flourescent optical drives; much like CD-ROMs, except that they could hold double-digits of gigabytes of information. I haven't seen anything about it since though.

 

[Wizkid]

I have heard about those type of drives too. That will be an incredible storage medium if it ever reaches commercialization.... let's just hope that it doesn't cost too much

 

[Guthwulf]

Well, as to the cost, I guess the main cost would be from the device to move/replace the individual atoms. Actually they have found that they can release a hydrogen atom from it's "spot" and the fluorine will just fill the space, however, the opposite is not true. The small amount of hydrogen and fluorine involved would maybe cost pennies...literally.

I believe we could see a release date within the next 10 years. Imagine this kind of storage combined with quantum computers. All I can say is "WOW"