A collaborated effort by researchers at three european universities has resulted in the development of a new storage technology which can fit 500GB of data onto a single HD DVD.

Dubbed the "Microholas project", this recording technique uses nanostructures inside the disk as opposed to conventional methods where they are just on the surface.

With further development, it is believed that microholographic recording could eventually allow discs to be capable of holding 1TB, though whether or not we'll ever see this enter mass-production is anyone's guess at this stage.

Reg Hardware have the scoop.

The University of Berlin, with partners Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, has managed to work out how to store 500GB of data on a regular HD DVD or Blu-ray disc.

The Microholas project developed a microholographic recording technique, using nanostructures inside the disk rather than on the surface as in conventional optical storage systems.