Nanotechnology may be the future of data storage, according to researchers at an Australian university.

The Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis team at Griffith University in Queensland have apparently created a hard drive capable of holding 1000 times as much data than those used in machines today.

So far, the methodology is vague, but nanotechnology-enhanced hard drives could hold 1Gb of data in the space typically occupied by 1Mb.

The system involves the microscopic manipulation of thermally grown oxide layers on standard silicon wafers.

The researchers reckon that, as magnetic storage technology reaches its limits but processor technology continues to improve, hard drives are becoming a bottleneck in a computer's performance. Nanotech drives will provide a solution, say the Griffith team.