InPhase to finally ship Tapestry 300r holographic storage solution in May

Talk about escaping the label of vaporware by this much. We've been hearing that holographic storage was right around the bend from InPhase for well over three years now, but it has finally managed to get its ducks in a row and should start shipping the unicorn-like Tapestry 300r next month. The firm had a demonstrative version on display at NAB Show earlier this month, and apparently real live working units will be making their way out to archival junkies in just weeks. Granted, it will demand a whopping $18,000 to get a shipping label made with your address on it, and each piece of 300GB media is $180 -- but hey, that's the price you pay these days to know that you'll decompose before your data degrades.

[Via The Register]

[Mode~7 @ Apr 27th 2008 7:19AM]

300gb? I thought these things came in the terrabytes?

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 7:23AM]

try again in 5 years

[Flashpoint @ Apr 27th 2008 8:57AM]

Oh Great - another FORMAT WAR.

Once everyone has Blu Ray disks, they won't feel that upgrading to Terrabyte Holographic discs is neccessary, unless they want to get the most out of their Ultra High Definition Televisions.

Fortunately, Playstation 4 will be the cheapest HG-DVD player around at a smooth $800.

[j_g_puff @ Apr 27th 2008 9:06AM]

They're going to work up to terabytes over the next few generations. As the technology improves they should be able to achieve some impressive capacities.

However, I don't see why anyone would buy this product now. Think about it: the cost for this is $18000 + $180 per 300GB...why would anyone spend that when you can pick up a 500GB hard drive for £40? I'm not sure what the retention time of a hard drive is, but it can't be far off 50 years when used for archive. Not only are HDs cheaper, but they've got better R/W times too.

Exactly who is this product aimed at?

[Alexander @ Apr 27th 2008 9:25AM]

@ j_g_puff "Think about it: the cost for this is $18000 + $180 per 300GB...why would anyone spend that when you can pick up a 500GB hard drive for £40?"

Because hard drives fail. And so do you.

[j_g_puff @ Apr 27th 2008 10:07AM]

@Alexander

For $180 I could raid 5 your ass..then use the change to raid 1 your mother's ass.

Plus, hard drive failure rates are well known. These disks have a great big ? when it comes to real-world failures, and when it's reliability that gets you hot, a ? is the last thing you want.

[Jesse S @ Apr 27th 2008 11:29AM]

puff...RAID is NOT a backup solution.

[j_g_puff @ Apr 27th 2008 1:38PM]

Jesse: why not?

[w00t @ Apr 27th 2008 6:07PM]

If anyone wants to suggest hard drives as a backup solution have a listen to my three week old RAID array...

*ch-chunk ch-chunk ch-chunk*

Yeah... it still reads but a fair bit slower when it's clunking like that, I have RMA'ed them and waiting for the pickup, but it demonstrates quite well why you shouldn't trust HDDs for archives and backup :)

[j_g_puff @ Apr 27th 2008 7:13PM]

w00t:

If the manufacturer had burnt them in properly the dodgy ones wouldn't get passed on to you. Or me for that matter - i've lost 2 disks in the last 3 years.

I still don't see why they can't be used for archive though. Get a few well-made (and well burnt-in) disks and use a parity scheme across a few of them. They only need to run for a few weeks while you back up, then they can be stashed offsite until they're needed. Of course they're probably bulkier and more expensive than things like DLT, but certainly less than holographic (for the next few years at least).

[Sean O @ Apr 28th 2008 3:22AM]

Why would anyone buy one of these? It's ludicrous. If you are a serious business or government, tape backup makes 1000 times more sense than this.

If you're a consumer, use frickin hard drives. Redundancy is the key. Make multiple backups, and put the disk back in the anti-static bag. In 5 years you'll be able to store a lot more than 300GB on your Mozy or .mac account.

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 7:19AM]

$18,000 seems a bit steep, but for people who need it VERY worth it, im guessing that the main buyer will be the Government.
Still, if i could i'd get one.

Anyone know how fast would it transfer at.

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 7:23AM]

noone even knows how this thing works let alone what speed it operates at

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 7:24AM]

sorry.. reads and writes at 20mbps

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 7:25AM]

@AutoTom,

OK, thanks for that, but why would they announce the release of a product when it doesn't even know if it works.

[Aki @ Apr 27th 2008 8:04AM]

he didn't say it didn't work, idiot.

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 7:25AM]

ok i give up everyone please READ THE F*NG ARTICLE

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 7:27AM]

Wow, calm down there honey, i read the article, but i was watching Two and a Half Men at the time, and i was distracted.
Keep your pants on.

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 9:26AM]

i... love you

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 9:39AM]

I know honey, cya tonight

[Saad Rabia @ Apr 27th 2008 7:31AM]

Here are some news I got from a trusted source:

1. The wealthier you are the cheaper this thing seems.
2. It looks like a 1.4MB Floppy Disk, but bigger.
3. It can talk.
4. It has a multi integrated nano weaponry system.
5. It is made of Holodyoum.
6. Strangely enough, it doesn't cause cancer!
7. It produces food.
8. Produced under Dubai standards.
9. If you use it well, you might finally meet a real unicorn. (Make sure to stand under it when it is falling).

[Homeboy @ Apr 27th 2008 7:36AM]

Uhm. Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather buy a bunch of 2.5 inch external firewire compatible harddrives.

[sinjinn @ Apr 27th 2008 8:03AM]

ok, well if you arent gonna buy it they might aswell stop making em.

[Saad Rabia @ Apr 27th 2008 9:52AM]

After what you said Homeboy, life now has no meaning.

[ITRanger @ Apr 27th 2008 7:52AM]

"you'll decompose before your data degrades."

Isn't this what they said about the early CDs? Evidence please!

Can someone who is alive in about 50 years and who is still using one of these things please post an update!

On the other hand they may actually be right, but I'll be happy enough with just 10 years.

On another note, when they were first talking about these things and how much storage they were going to deliver, I was seriously impressed.
Fast forward to now, and they have delivered exactly what they said they would - around 300 GB ... and nobody is really impressed. Least of all my current hard drive.

As Crocodile Dundee would have said:
Call that a drive? ... 300 Petabytes ... now thats what you call a holographic drive!

[Jesse S @ Apr 27th 2008 11:31AM]

I have CD's from the 80s that are still fine.

[Reader @ Apr 27th 2008 12:09PM]

Sorry, Jesse, but I call BS. Everyone knows electricity wasn't around in the 80s.

[A.C.E.R. @ Apr 27th 2008 4:30PM]

Jesse: of course you have manufactured CDs that are fine. But do you have any CDRs that are more than 10 years old? I only have a couple left. The top of the CDRs started flaking off years ago.

[stonedhippy @ Apr 27th 2008 8:19AM]

Didn't anyone learn anything from Zip Disks?

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 9:48AM]

No, no they did not.

[tallfella @ Apr 27th 2008 8:30AM]

I'd imagine physical media would go in the future where we'd all pull data from some mainframe with your own unlimited space, rent on a yearly basis, a bit like security boxes from the bank. With fast wireless download/upload who need to find a safe place to file the media?? Like someone said, haven't anyone learnt from Zip Discs?

[danny @ Apr 27th 2008 3:02PM]

Oh the promises of the future... Storing all of my sensitive information on a mainframe along with everyone else's. Can't wait.

Here are my backup precautions:

Fire = Blu-Ray in a fire-proof safe
Failed HDD = 2 redundant external backups
Burglars who steal my PC, safe and external drives = .357 Magnum

[CapWKidd @ Apr 27th 2008 4:34PM]

The future is now!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261

[major @ Apr 27th 2008 8:33AM]

The Cadet said "$18,000 seems a bit steep..."

Finalist for understatement of the year.

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 9:43AM]

I shall think of my acceptance speech now.
Thank you (insert name)
thank you very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much.
Thats just the beginning




(The Office joke)
(Dwight Series 2)

[OX4 @ Apr 27th 2008 9:11AM]

I feel better knowing the Feds will have my intercepted personal emails archived safely for the next 500 years.

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 9:27AM]

50 years.. please rtfa

[OX4 @ Apr 27th 2008 9:40AM]

Thanks for being on top of things there, guy.

[schmitty338 @ Apr 27th 2008 11:43AM]

@OX4

...You're not my Guy, fwend!

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 27th 2008 9:18AM]

I can haz rec0n?

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 27th 2008 9:19AM]

Shit, sorry everyone, I'm on firefox and was tab swapping too fast. That comment was supposed to be posted on the bungie forums.

As you were.

[AutoTom @ Apr 27th 2008 9:26AM]

even still.. why are you spamming bungie forums with posts like that?

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 9:46AM]

@AutoTom

Is your life about making other people lives hard. Calm down, just because someone added an extra 0 doesnt me you have to go and tell them to Read the Fu*king article.
God. take a f***ing chill pill.

(Mind my french)

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 27th 2008 9:48AM]

Who would have thought that that lack of a /joke tab could ahve led to so much confusion!

[The Cadet @ Apr 27th 2008 10:00AM]

i just Lol'ed

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 27th 2008 10:21AM]

Then I have acheived my purpose.

Here, take this +1 for my gratitude.

[The Cadet @ Apr 28th 2008 1:37AM]

@Esat, Im up to 7 +7's for now

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 27th 2008 9:28AM]

I wasn't actually... i was only jo...

I don't know. I just don't know.

[Alexander @ Apr 27th 2008 9:40AM]

300GB – 1.6TB Capacities

20MB/s-120 MB/s transfer rate and milliseconds data access time

50 year media archive life

...

They have a little work to do...

[Boarderwoot @ Apr 27th 2008 9:47AM]

Today's special for only $18000 tomorrows technology with yesterdays case design!

seriously it looks like they had Dull design it and reused some dreamweaver box art from the 90's. Evidently they thought the technology would sell itself though i guess its prettier than the cardboard box I live in.