Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd claims to have developed an ultra-high density optical data storage method capable of storing a two-hour movie in 0.2 square centimetres, Reuter reports from Tokyo. The method uses an Atomic Force Microscope probe to increase storage density to several thousand times the capacity of conventional optical disks. Commercial application of the breakthrough is years off, Matsushita says, but it would be ideal for multimedia, medical X-rays and other areas requiring high density data storage, the company says, adding that the process can read and write and view bits of 10 nanometres so a 3.5 disk could store 6,000 times the capacity of a conventional 4.7 compact disk. Moreover the power consumption is minuscule, so that one battery could supply sufficient power for as long as 20 years, and the process also supports reading at a high signal-to-noise ratio. No technical details were available.
