An Israeli storage technology outfit called Mempile is developing an optical storage technology they claim will pack one terabyte of data onto a single disc.

Each disk is built from polymethyl methacrylate which is almost entirely transparent to the specific wavelength of the laser used by its recorder, allowing Mempile to shove roughly 200 virtual layers onto a single 1.2mm disc, with each of those layers capable of storing 5GB of data.

Mempile claims that current prototypes can store an impressive 600 - 800GB per disc, but they believe the first 1TB prototype is 18 months away and will hit retail shelves about a year afterwards, priced around $3,000 for the drive and $30-60 for a 600GB disc. The prospect of terabyte recordable media is certainly tempting. We’ll have to wait and see if this actually makes it to the market and doesn't get filed under the “vaporware” category.