A breakthrough in data storage technology could see the capacity of hard drives in PCs and servers increase substantially within just two years, it has been suggested.

Research conducted at the University of California found that using lasers to manipulate the magnetisation of data disc surfaces the density limit of the disc could be increased to as much as ten terabits per square inch.

Although the specialised laser technology is currently very expensive, lead researcher Sakhrat Khizroev told nanotechweb.org that the technology could be on the market in as little as two years.

This is due to the growing concern that the traditional method of data storage – longitudinal magnetic recording (LMR) – is coming close to its technical limits at which data becomes unstable.

So the development of new laser technology for data storage is well-timed, but Mr Khizroev suggested that this is just the first step towards protein-based memory recording.

He said: "This experiment could have a great impact on the magnetic data storage industry and especially enable so-called heat-assisted magnetic recording – one of the most promising data storage technologies of the future."