Let's face it. There's never enough storage. In the future, when you're downloading 4K movies, it's going to be worse. But don't be afraid. There's research that keeps on going on how to increase storage space. Now, scientists can store bits of information on single molecules, which could pave the way for petabyte SSDs.

Researchers embed a magnetized iron atom into an organic molecule made up of 51 atoms, and the idea is that the organic shell will protect the information stored in the central atom, while its magnetization allows data to be stored.

By applying current to the molecule, it is possible to flip the lone atom's magnetic charge, and then altering the resistance of the molecule. The process means that the molecule is capable of storing a bit of data. The research is published in Nature Communications.

But while all is said and done, it's not that easy. Scientists will have to find a way of addressing each and every molecule in the drive, which is pretty tough. A device which includes so much circuitry, even using nanowires wouldn't be able to offer up the capacity boost that the reasoning promises.

Still, the concept is promising, and it could inspire similar techniques that could be used to shrink the current SSD technology. So in the near future, petabyte SSDs aren't so much of fiction after all. [Nature Communications via The Register]