The growing demands of high definition digital video content, fixed content data, and compliance and security application will soon outstrip the capabilities of current storage technologies to keep up the demand. Clearly a new storage paradigm is needed to meet the growing storage demands. So what is it going to be?With its omnipresent computer, all connected via the internet, the information age has led to an explosion of information available to users. The decreasing cost of storing data and the increasing storage capability of the same small device footprint have been key enablers of this revolution.

While current storage needs are being met, storage technology must continue to improve in order to keep pace with the rapidly increasing demand. So how is it going to be?Both magnetic and conventional optical data storage technologies, where individual bits are stored as distinct magnetic or optical changes on the surface of a recording medium are approaching physical limits beyond which individual bits may be too small or too difficult to store. So what next step is going to be?Storing information throughout the volume of a medium, not just on its surface is an intriguing solution to our entire problem regarding storage.

So this is it, Holographic Data Storage. Holographic Data Storage is a volumetric approach which, although conceived decades ago, has made recent progress towards practicality with the appearance of lower-cost enabling technologies, significant results from longstanding research efforts and progress in holographic recording materials.This is a quest to find the answer to these entire questions, the technology and the story behind the next revolution in data storage.

Advantages of HVD

1. Resistance to damage - If some parts of the medium are damaged, all information can still be obtained from other parts.

2. Efficient retrieval - All information can be retrieved from any part of the medium.

3. These discs have the capacity to hold up to 3.9 terabyte (TB) of information, which is approximately 6,000 times the capacity of a CDROM, 830 times the capacity of a DVD, 160 times the capacity of single-layer Blu-ray-Discs, and about 48 times the capacity of standard computer hard drives.

4. The HVD also has a transfer rate of 1 gigabit/s.

5. While reading a page the entire page of data can be retrieved quickly and at one time .