OpticalStorage
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Sony and Panasonic ally to launch next-generation 300GB optical discs
During the heyday of optical storage we saw a 400GB Blu-Ray flavor (shown above) and even 1TB discs in the lab, but lately such development has waned. Sony and Panasonic have teamed up to move things along, however, saying there's a need for reliable long-term storage that only optical disks can provide. The pair will develop a "next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs," saying that a 300GB flavor could be ready in two years or so. Though geared towards industries like cloud storage and digital cinema at first, the tech could eventually trickle down to consumers, too. Given rapid developments in on-demand streaming and cloud gaming, however, there might be nothing left for us plebes to archive by then.
GE's new holographic storage burns 500GB discs at the speed of a Blu-ray
Holographic disc storage may not have worked out so well for InPhase, but the folks at General Electric are still trying to make HVD work. Their latest breakthrough, shown off today at an IEEE symposium in Hawaii, is a new micro-holographic material which is 100x more sensitive than its predecessor and ups recording speed to that of Blu-ray discs. In the two years since we saw it last some of the hyperbole has apparently been lost -- no claims of "two to four years left for Blu-ray" this time around -- but manager Peter Lorraine still thinks the DVD-sized discs have a future in archival and consumer systems. That's getting tougher to imagine in a world with FiOS and Netflix streaming, but if there is ever another disc format you may be looking at it right now.
5nm crystals could lead to vastly larger optical discs, mighty fine time machines
Blu-ray was already looking mighty fine at 25GB of storage per layer -- and if Sony manages to make the indigo foil sheets hold 33.4GB each, we certainly won't complain -- but Japanese researchers have discovered a compound that could leapfrog Blu-ray entirely. Scientists at the University of Tokyo discovered that by hitting 5-nanometer titanium pentoxide crystals with a laser, they could get the metal to change color and conduct less electricity, leading to what they believe is an effective new medium for optical data storage. At 5nm, the small black crystals could reportedly hold 1,000 times the data of Blu-ray at the same density, and cost less to boot -- the scholars reportedly synthesized the formula simply by adding hydrogen to the common, comparatively cheap titanium dioxide, while heating the compound over a fire. Ahh, nanotechnology -- making our lives easier, one microscopic crystal or tube at a time.
Cranberry DiamonDisc: the $35 DVD that'll last longer than your ghost
We've seen outfit after outfit trumpet their long-lasting optical storage wares before, but Cranberry seems different. Rather than promising that whatever miracle they've just unearthed will be available "in the very near future," this company is selling its wonder product right now. The so-called DiamonDisc -- which is reportedly constructed from "diamond-hard stone" -- is designed to store precious memories for 1,000 years or more, and it's even built to withstand "temperatures extending up to 176 degrees Fahrenheit as well as UV rays that would destroy conventional DVD discs." Unfortunately, each disc holds just 4.7GB of information, and each one will run you $34.95 if purchased individually. Oh, and it's only playable on "most" regular DVD drives, so across-the-board compatibility seems less than likely. The more we think about it, the more sense that whole "just carve it into stone for future generations to see" mantra makes. Kudos, cavemen.
Millenniata's Millennial Disk should last longer than you, your memory
Considering that we're still waiting patiently for any company (we're looking at you, Call/Recall) to produce a commercially viable holographic storage solution, we're required to tackle Millenniata's newest assertion with a sprinkle of skepticism. The claim? It's specially lubricated, fortified and homogenized Millennial Disk is said to last some 1,000 years, making it the world's finest and most longevous archive solution. If it's legitimate. We're told that digital information is carved into layers of hard, "persistent" materials, and somehow, those carvings are able to stay fresh and readable for more years than you care to count. Still, we reckon the robot apocalypse will be in full effect by the time 3009 rolls around, so even if it only lives up to half of its claims, we'll still be impressed.[Via Slashdot]
Aussie whiz-kids can cram 1.6TB on a DVD-sized disc, go Outback tonight
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]
GE microholographic storage promises cheap 500GB discs, Blu-ray and DVD compatibility
Ah, holographic storage -- you've held so much promise for cheap optical media since you were first imagined in research papers published in the early 60s. Later today, GE will be trying to keep the dream alive when it announces a new technique that promises to take holographic storage mainstream. GE's breakthrough in microholographics -- which, as the name implies, uses smaller, less complex holograms to achieve three-dimensional digital storage -- paves the way for players that can store about 500GB of data on standard-sized optical discs while still being able to read DVD and Blu-ray media. Better yet, researchers claim a price of about 10 cents per gigabyte compared to the nearly $1 per gigabyte paid when Blu-ray was introduced. The bad news? We're talking 2011 or 2012 by the time microholographics devices and media are introduced and even then it'll only be commercialized for use by film studios and medical institutions. In other words, you'll likely be streaming high-def films to your OLED TV long before you have a microholographic player in the living room.Update: And out pops the press release.
Pioneer shows off 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, affirms compatibility with current players
When Pioneer first introduced its unicorn-like 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, we weren't sure if the thing would make it beyond the drawing board, let alone be compatible with existing BD decks. Over at the IT Month Fair in Taipei, Pioneer showed up to showcase the capacious disc, and better still, a DigiTimes report asserts that these are indeed compatible with Blu-ray readers already on the market. Currently, the 400GB disc is slated to hit mass production sometime between now and 2010, while rewritable versions won't hit until 2010 to 2012. Not like it really matters though -- a 1TB disc is on track for 2013, and you know you'll be waiting for the latest and greatest.
Pioneer finds 20-layer 500GB Blu-ray Disc "feasible"
Now here's a rate of progress we could get used to. Nary a month after Pioneer trumpeted a 400GB Blu-ray Disc, out pops another press release from the firm boasting about a 500 gigger with a score of layers. Based on research at its Tokyo headquarters, specifications have been drafted for an incredibly capacious 500GB BD. Granted, this very company already had plans for a 500GB optical disc nearly four years ago, but there's no time like the present to make this stuff a reality, right?[Via TrustedReviews, thanks xdragon]
Verbatim offers up color-background LightScribe DVDRs
We're beginning to think that this is some type of holiday tradition for Verbatim, as nearly a year after the firm waved color-background CD-Rs in our faces, now we've got vivid DVD±Rs to tempt us, too. As expected, these new 4.7GB discs are fully compatible with all LightScribe-enabled drives, and they're currently shipping in packs of 25 for around $25. Yeah, it's costly, but it's hard to put a price on the joy you'll receive when finding yellow, blue, red, orange and green discs within your next spindle.
Mempile's TeraDisc fits 1TB on a single optical disc
We've heard a lot of talk about the death of optical media, but for inexpensive high-capacity storage, it's pretty hard to beat -- which is why the TeraDisc, from Israel's Mempile, look like it has such promise. Eschewing the reflectivity principles in current optical media entirely, the TeraDisc system uses light-sensitive molecules called chromophores to create hologram-like matrices that can be used to store a full terabyte of data on a single disc using a red laser -- and Mempile says that an eventual transition to a blue laser system will enable storage capacities of up to 5TB. The company is hoping to get a prototype ready in 18 months, and plans to ship the first version a year after that, priced around $3,000 for the drive and $30-60 for a 600GB disc. No word on the price of those 1TB discs, but you can bet they won't be cheap.Read - Mempile websiteRead - In-depth article about TeraDisc at The Future of Things[Thanks, Iddo]
Call/Recall unveils multi-terabyte optical storage solution
There was a brief moment in time when unveiling an "optical storage technology that can provide 40 times the capacity of Blu-ray and over 200 times the capacity of DVD" would be momentous, but unfortunately for Call/Recall, it's just one of the herd at this point. Nevertheless, the company is pushing forward in its development of "2-photon 3D technology" that can purportedly stuff many terabytes of data onto a "DVD-sized disc" or even cram 50GB onto a one-inch disc aimed at cellphones and mobile media players. The system relies on a "2-photon recording process to record bits in a three-dimensional volume in a disk," which can stuff multiple layers atop one another in order to give users more room to work with. As expected, there's little to be said about an actual mainstream release of the so-called solution, and besides, we're having a hard enough time swallowing the pricetags of existing high-density storage drives.
Mempile shows off "TeraDisc" DVD-sized optical storage
Somehow, in a world of 300GB holographic discs being packaged with cereal boxes -- OK, maybe we're not quite there yet -- a 1TB optical disc doesn't sound too terribly far fetched. However, Mempile's upcoming TeraDisc technology deserves no scoffing, with its 100 virtual layers for storage at a "fraction of the price" of other storage solutions on the market. Currently the disc can store 500GB in a transparent disc the thickness of a DVD, but future optimizations will allow for 200 layers of data, with 5GB on each layer, for a whole terabyte of good times. The capacity improvements come from the fact that the disc is transparent, so the laser doesn't have to bounce off of anything, it just goes right through. Right now the technology is still in development, but "strategic agreements" are already in place with media and device manufacturers, so all we've got to worry about is where to store all these cute kitten pics of ours while we're waiting for these discs to hit shelves.
Hitachi Maxell 1TB SVOD optical disc cart
Good morning, kids. Are you ready for the optical disc format of the day? It's Hitachi Maxell's 1TB stacked volumetric optical disc (SVOD) array, comprised of rather thin DVD-size discswith DVD-size capacities: 9.4GB total storage each on two 92µm thick data layers. Yeah, we know, we promised a terabyte; well, watch and learn. These polycarbonate discs may be too thin to be manufactured from typical plastics, but they can be stacked in an optical array 100 tall, and 6.5 x 13.3 x 16.1cm (2.5 x 5.2 x 6.3-inches) in size. Even though Hitachi Maxell wants to make the terabyte carts relatively cheap at ¥40,000 (about $340 US) and claims there are consumer applications, don't toss that HD DVD player just yet. It's pretty easy to realize why optical arrays are really of only limited utility for the end-user; if these should ever be popularized, we'd imagine it would serve first as data archival medium for businesses before you'd ever outfit your rig with, like, the high def optical disc system, dude.[Thanks, Andrew]
