The average Blu-ray disc holds about 25GB.  A double-sided Blu-ray disc holds 50GB.  The highest-capacity Blu-ray disc (at least that I can find) is TDK’s 200GB DURABIS Blu-ray disc.  However, Japanese scientists are working on a new disc format that will make even the 200GB disc look like nothing.  We’re talking a 5 terabyte, or 5,000 gigabyte, disc made from titanium oxide.

The disc is the brainchild of Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, a chemistry professor at the University of Tokyo.  The secret to titanium oxide’s responsiveness is how it reacts to light, changing from a solid metal to a semiconductor state in the presence of a laser.  The best part is titanium oxide is both cheap and perfectly safe, since it’s in anything from makeup to white paint.

It offers hard drive array size in a single platter!  One disc can store 1000 DVDs including special features, with no compression, no storage issues, and no fuss or muss.  Imagine having an entire DVD collection (plus the collections of 5 or 6 of your closest movie-loving friends) all compressed on one piece of physical media!  Imagine the possibilities this would have for libraries and other digital archivists, or just the incredibly dedicated home collector!