New disc technology could hold up to 12 terabytes

A new storage technology promises a single disc holding up to 650 GBs, 47,000 images on a 2" disc and 1,000 times the capacity of most CD-ROMs. The HD-ROM Pancake Disc, developed by

Los Alamos National Laboratory and licensed and sold by Norsam Technologies (Los Alamos, NM, http://www.norsam.com) permits digital data, analog images, 3-D data, audio and video to be mixed on the same disc at densities of up to 37 GBs per square inch. The company says the Pancake Discs can withstand fire, are completely nonmagnetic and will last thousands of years without any type of storage or maintenance requirements.

The process uses a focused ion beam to permanently etch data into discs made of stainless steel, silicon and other durable metals. The Norsam Writer and Reader, each currently under development, are controlled from a Windows and trade interface. Available as separate components or in a combined configuration, the devices provide control over how data is stored and viewed. Using a Norsam Reader and a desktop PC, data can be downloaded to any conceivable output medium including conventional CDs, floppy discs, printers or paper copies. Data reading rates of 30 to 50 million bits per second are planned.