Aussie whiz-kids can cram 1.6TB on a DVD-sized disc, go Outback tonight
By Darren Murph 
posted May 21st 2009 6:06AM
posted May 21st 2009 6:06AM
Don't take it personally, Blu-ray -- we still love you and all, but there's just something dreamy about baking 1.6TB of information onto a blank piece of optical media we can actually afford. According to a new report, a crew of researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have exploited the properties of a certain gold nano-rod that will theoretically enable them to shove 300 DVDs worth of data onto a single disc. Calling the method "five-dimensional optical recording," the technique "employs nanometer-scale particles of gold as a recording medium," and according to developers, it's primed for commercialization. Essentially, these gurus have figured out how to add a spectral and polarization dimension, giving them the ability to record information "in a range of different color wavelengths on the same physical disc." As for the chances this actually makes it out of the laboratory and into the lives of real humans? Slim, Jim.[Thanks, Sam]
Imagine what that technology can put on a single bluray disk..!
1.6TB of data...
Come on, how often do we hear about these new optical technologies? They never get anywhere. Probably due to them employing so many layers, they don't work outside of a level 10 clean room.
@mrspiteri
I agree with you, that in a testing facility these things can do ungodly amounts of stuff, in the real world, not so much.
Optical media should be stepped away from. It's great and all, but a single scratch from and accident can render the data on the disk practically useless. Now, if they started making optical disks like the floppy we might not have so many problems with the disk being housed in a plastic casing and have a mechanical slide over the "viewport" area.
But, if I really need to transport large amounts of data, I don't but it to a disk/blu-ray. I send it to my flash drive or an external hard drive, easier to carry, easier to delete and re-write and over long term much cheaper than buying disks and burning the same data 5 times.
It's great they can store 1.6TB on a DVD, but how long does that take to write, how much will this Golden Flake Disk cost? And in the long term is it really worth it when society is trying to escape these ancient storage mediums.
@7legend
"like the floppy we might not have so many problems with the disk being housed in a plastic casing"
you do remember floppy metal coming loose all the time?
it'll be possibly to get 1TB of flash in a really small space soon enough, the raw materials cost next to nothing.
so then what is the point of fragile optical media?
You would think this actually be BAD for bluray - these people fit 1.6TB on a freaking DVD - if outside a laboratory only 5% of the theoretical maximum can be achieved on a routine mass production scale, that still allows for 80GB of data on a DVD - Hello 1080P DVD.
If this doesn't require a different Laser to read, I'm sold.
"Now, if they started making optical disks like the floppy we might not have so many problems with the disk being housed in a plastic casing and have a mechanical slide over the "viewport" area."
They do for magneto-optical drives, which was a great idea but just never caught on like it should have. You can still find used drives for sale but I'm not sure if anyone makes them anymore. I think the MiniDisc was the last gasp for MO in the US.
Early CD drives even had a plastic caddy for the CD... what a pain that was.
Slick, They fit it on a DVD sized disc, not an actual DVD.
Wow, I actually saw this on Australian TV before I saw it here. Unlike usual where I see it here than a month later its on TV.
Out of all the recording tech I've heard about over the years this one actually looks promising. p.s. you missed a very important word from that article: Samsung.
Like the OP said, heaps of new optical tech which promise > 40GB capacity, but none have yet surfaced or are mentioned beyond the announcement. Where is my read only flash memory!?!? I don't want my next gen storage to be physically volatile again!
It's made of gold...
If you read the article you'll see that they are researching cheaper options; it's all too easy for some lazy ass to sit there bitching and moaning.
You're the one bitching.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It'll encourage people to recycle it, for one.
them*, not it
Samboini, take some ex-lax and relax, it should fix your problem in no time.
Recycle... Cash4Gold! It's so easy!
It could be a whole new breed of Netflix.
... with spectral variations...
RAINBOW GOLD?
This is how it was reported in the SMH (small quote)
Australian scientists have unveiled new DVD technology that stores data in five dimensions, making it possible to pack more than 2000 movies onto a single disc.
I'm not that impressed. At the moment it only works with mediums made of gold particles. It will take a few years until it also works with normal DVDs which won't be produced any longer then.
They also need additional lasers, which will increase the price of the the drive drastically. I think it's a great idea to use a spectrum instead of one fixed wave length, but well, it will take a few years until we see the first device. And come on, 1.6TB, that's nothing. In two years every 1.8" SSD has this capacity.
"In two years every 1.8" SSD has this capacity"
yeah, but at the moment 1.6TB is a HUGE amount of storage for a DVD sized disc at the current time. This is for optical media, not flash media. 2 different technologies mate.
maybe if the discs last for decades longer than the tiny 1tb+ SSDs etc then it might have a place in the average consumers storage apparatus, else it's just another format for movies and games.
Optical is not the media to use for longevity. sure, it may last, but its too fragile.
Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Oi Oi Oi!
Outback is an American franchise. Tsk Tsk.
Are you talking about this:
http://www.outback.com/
Or this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outback
Which american franchise?
??? I dont get it! lols
That's what the Outback restaurants slogan is.
"Let's go Outback tonight!"
Outback Steakhouse. I looked all over the internet is "Go outback tonight" is an Aussie phrase, but so far it only turns up as the Outback Steakhouse tagline.
True, but there are a couple of Outback restaurants in Australia now. I saw one near Sydney last year. Not sure if Aussies actually eat there though, and I was damned surprised to see it there.
gold-ray anyone?
And it doubles as a bling for the gangsta dudes! :))
"Don't take it personally, Blu-ray -- we still love you and all, but there's just something dreamy about baking 1.6TB of information onto a blank piece of optical media we can actually afford."
Yes, Blu-ray must be expensive in comparison to a one-off disc made with gold. How about you guys just leave the stupid snarky comments for your comment posters and act more like journalists you pretend you to be.
Sounds like someone has a gold nano-rod stuck up his ass...
People earlier mentioned flash technology are correct, although not as disposable/distributable/inexpensive as most optical media ends up, it is infinitely better at reliably and quickly storing information. Optical drives take up a lot of room, make computer cases have to be a minimum size, and often don't work well. The internet has already solved most of these problems, I understand people won't be able to send 1.6TB over the internet in a few years but honestly, wtf are you sending that is that big, 4k HD movies? Other than that, improved processor power and encoding will likely lead to greater efficiency in online distribution rather than worse, leaving this somewhat useless.
I'm sure this breakthrough can be used someone where though, and research and achievements should be recognized as such. Certainly I'm not contributing to society in any meaningful way, what with all this hatoraid, just wanted to point out the basic fact that broadband is making DVD's useless, fiber will make Blu-ray useless, and whatever comes next will make this useless. We're quickly getting diminishing returns from optical media, and soon it will be more expensive to bring to market than it is worthwhile.
A real use for storing it in 6 layers? Duplicate and Rotate each layer 60 degrees. Now you can scratch any spot on your disc and you still have 5 backups!
You're very welcome Engadget :D
In all honesty, with the size and delicate nature of optical disks, what is the true benefit of using optical media over some form of flash based media? One would think the flash based media would be more stable over its life, faster (no need to spin up a disk) and more reliable. Plus, if a video format ever changes you'd only need to update the decoder, not all the internal components that read the data (assuming it still uses USB or FireWire). Maybe I just don't know enough, but there is a reason we moved from CD players to MP3 players...
I believe this is the same thing I saw an article on earlier today and they said they tech would allow for 12TB disks which is a LOT more exciting than 1.6TB disks.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/05/researchers-hope-to-cram-12tb-of-data-on-dvd-sized-disk.ars
Mmmm.. bloomin' onion
Thats great but, how long will it take to burn a movie to it at home? Hows about bumping up write speeds first.
yeah right!
they had 8x dvd writers ready the first day for lazy bummers like you.
Where can I get myself a 5 dimensional DVD ROM drive? Does it have a laser pick up made of diamond?
Let's go Outback tonight.
Let's pretend we're in Antarctica.