Can Your USB Flash Drive Store 1TB of Data?

Michael Kozicki, ASU

Very soon, we will be able to store a terabyte of data in gadgets the size of USB Flash drives. That’s right, 1,000GB of data in a very small portable thumb drive.

The technology that makes this possible is nano-ionics, and researchers at the Arizona State University have utilized the new technology to develop a new type of computer memory that’s touted to be more low-cost and energy-efficient than any of the technologies available at present.

They call the new memory technology programmable metallization cell or PMC, which stores information in a fundamentally different way from flash. Instead of storing bits as an electronic charge as in flash, PMC harnesses charged atoms or ions to store data.

Watch for the name Kozicki, he’s the star of this new technology. Michael Kozicki is the director of ASU’s Center for Applied Nanoionics which developed PMC.

He says the first product containing the memory, a simple chip, is slated to come out in 18 months.

[Via: Wired.com]
Photo: Michael Kozicki

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.