Hitachi Maxell has developed the next-gen ultra-thin DVD using a 'nanoimprint' technology.

The new DVDs are 1/3 the thickness of current DVDs and can still hold approx 4.7 GB of data.

Hitachi has also announced a new 'volume optical storage technology' that allows us to store a TERRABYTE in a compact device!

The company's "Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc" (SVOD) technology, which consists of 100 ultra-thin optical discs (12-cm in diameter, the same as current DVDs) loaded into a 6.5-cm (2.5-inch) thick cartridge.

The result is a compact optical disc library system (1/10th the conventional size) capable of combining random access memory and long-term storage.

By laminating the disk on both sides, a single disk can hold about 9.4 GB of data.  When 100 of these are stacked, we almost get a terrabyte!

Hitachi Maxell is also working on a next-generation blue laser technology could boost cartridge capacity to 5 terabytes (50 GB for each double-sided disc).

The discs will be priced at under 40,000 yen (US$325) for a stack of 100.