Yes. Add adequate amount of table salt to increase data storage per unit volume !! NOT A JOKE. This press release from Agency of Science, Technology and Research, Singapore says the data storage density can be multiplied six times by patterning with Sodium Chloride, thats right “Table Salt”.

Although it is our own table salt that is used, the technology used to develop these magnetic bits is quite “hi-fi”. Only a method called “nanopatterning” which uses high-resolution e-beam lithography will help. Dr Joel Yang from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), a research institute of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), with collaborators from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Data Storage Institute (DSI) used nanopatterning to create magnetic bits that cane store data with density of 3.3 Terabit per inch squared. Currently, storage devices offer storage densities of the order of 0.5 Terabit per inch squared.

The research group is working on achieving even higher storage density. Hopefully we can see this technology used on a commercial level soon. Lets wait for 18 TB hard disks that will go into your pockets !!