10TB+ Optical Disks

[hafa]

OK, a dramatic title, but even if they only achieve 1.6TB at first, this could prove to be quite a breakthrough: linky (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8060082.stm).

[Wicked Klown]

Nice idea, but man would those disc cost a small forture.

[ChanceCoats123]

That is cool and all, but until optical drives can accurately place data faster than x52, I see no need. Most DL disks burn at a max speed of x8 which takes quite a while to burn 8 gb's at x8. So, burning 200 times that amount at the same speed would literally take days.

[ratbuddy]

I'm still waiting for drives with multiple read/write heads. With burners costing so little these days, you'd think it would be trivial and inexpensive to come up with one.

[hafa]

I can't help but think that once (or if) this tech makes it to market that the new burners will be designed to make its use practical. I think ratbuddy's on the right track. Multiple lasers, perhaps maybe even several per layer, allowing massive parallelism, as the max RPM for a piece of acetate can't be all that high...

In terms of cost, it will be like everything else,or to paraphrase Father Guido Sarduchi: Supplya anda demanda...

[nd4spdbh2]

That is cool and all, but until optical drives can accurately place data faster than x52, I see no need. Most DL disks burn at a max speed of x8 which takes quite a while to burn 8 gb's at x8. So, burning 200 times that amount at the same speed would literally take days.

you do know that the transer speed at each "x" is different for cd's n dvd's right... either way your right... it takes a long time at 8x to burn a dvd... and at 52x i always cringe at how fast the damn cd spins.

[MadMan007]

Been hearing about very high density optical storage for what, 5 years now? Maybe 10? And yet nothing ever comes out that's consumer-oriented, I think there is one backup system meant to compete with tape in enterprise applications but it's $$$. Until HDs stop increasing so quickly in density these optical solutions will be a niche.

[Shiggity]

Been hearing about very high density optical storage for what, 5 years now? Maybe 10? And yet nothing ever comes out that's consumer-oriented, I think there is one backup system meant to compete with tape in enterprise applications but it's $$$. Until HDs stop increasing so quickly in density these optical solutions will be a niche.

thanks mr. obvious =D

Have you not noticed what every chip maker is doing now? Every GPU and CPU is geared toward super clusters (HPC) or smart phones (ultra mobile), with desktop / mobile desktop being an afterthought. Intel's i5 is nothing more than a stepping stone to the all in wonder GPU + CPU hybrid chips that will be used in millions in clusters.

All storage will be geared towards super clusters, cloud infrastructure, and ultra mobility from this point on.

Same goes for every other computing paradigm.

Anything that isn't easily computable in the palm of your hand will be computed on a super and sent to you wirelessly.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520192137.htm - claims 2000x storage capacity.


Edit - Sorry if I came off as being a jerk in this post, I'm in a really bad mood. Going to unwind.

[hafa]

Sorry you're feeling out of sorts, Shiggity here have one on me: :beer:

The cloud definitely has its place, but it will be many years before it's ubiquitous (think of how many folks are still stuck with narrow band).

There will be a need for optical media for some time to come, both as an inexpensive backup and for cheaply distributing large amounts of data when the cloud is unavailable/impractical. How large will be more of a function of the market than technological feasibility.

[Chris_F]

Still ends up being the equivalent to a DVD or Bluray. Hell if I'm going to spend $60 on a 10TB disk that takes 600 hours to burn, just to have it buffer underrun at the last minute.

Seriously, holographic technology is the only logical next step.

[ratbuddy]

Seriously, holographic technology is the only logical next step.

I remember reading some story on holographic storage linked from Slashdot about 8 years ago, saying it would be here 'real soon now.'

[MonkeyMhz]

Cool, but I hate the CD format. Cheap ass frisbee. USB imo is the best storage so far and SSD. Hard Drives are good too.

[Shiggity]

I remember reading some story on holographic storage linked from Slashdot about 8 years ago, saying it would be here 'real soon now.'

It is here, it's just 1000x more expensive than everything else ;)

It's unfortunate that some tech gets instantly shot down because it isn't immediately profitable on a large scale.

Or some company patents it and locks the patent up and does no further research on it and delays progress for 2 decades. That's always fun.

[skim32]

It's all about the Atomic Holographic Data Storage Sytem... Can't wait for this to come out.. The drive is expected to cost $750 bucks (cheaper than blue drive at first release). And media is supposed to cost $0.0004 per gigabyte..

Check out their website:
http://colossalstorage.net/home.htm

Some of the benefits they list:
- It will have highest NLO analog / digital / optical capacity available
- will have lowest cost per gigabyte
- will have highest data bit density of any storage device
- will have lowest power requirement per gigabyte
- will have longest archive shelf life of any data storage media,
- will have widest environmental conditions and tolerances
- will be only technology that scales from nano to macro solutions
- will have most reliable removable read / write media available
- will be a non-contact recording nanotechnology for increased reliability
- will have highest bandwidth data transfer potential
- will be direct replacement for hard disk drives
- will NOT have storage media destroyed by Infrared, Visible, or Ultraviolet Light
- will NOT be effected by extreme high energy EMF or Cosmic Rays
i.e. Solar Flares and Solar Winds for Moon / Mars Exploration
- will be nuclear/cosmic radiation hardened capable

[Shiggity]

neat

[4GHZ_or_bust]

But can it outperform a 10k RPM drives?

[skim32]

But can it outperform a 10k RPM drives?

Yes.. it supposed to replace the hard drive.. it outperforms any storage media on the market.

oh and the the 100tb drive will cost 750.. and the 100tb disc will cost 100 bucks.. eventually going down to 40 bucks.. with infinite rewrites.. sounds incredibly sick... it's a performance and data pack rat dream come true..

[Mr.Guvernment]

Cool, but I hate the CD format. Cheap ass frisbee. USB imo is the best storage so far and SSD. Hard Drives are good too.

USB isnt a storage device, and USB is too slow really to be used for backung up massive amounts of data, with most external USB devices hitting a ceiling of around 25-28MB/sec it is not a viable solution for most.

[MongGrel]

I'd love a 5Tb one of those just for a easy backup solution.

:beer:

Holographic had been in the works along time now yeah I'd love to see that, I think IBM was working on a dice type things years ago I'd remembered reading about. Was kinda like something like a USB stick that was a dice transparent thing that was read in 3d with a couple lasers I think . They'll need to advance storage and access times just in order to do those things I guess in the future.

I'm actually kinda thinking something in the large end removable storage department is probably going to be one of the next big things. Just a gut feeling I guess.

[Lifthanger]

Yes.. it supposed to replace the hard drive.. it outperforms any storage media on the market.

oh and the the 100tb drive will cost 750.. and the 100tb disc will cost 100 bucks.. eventually going down to 40 bucks.. with infinite rewrites.. sounds incredibly sick... it's a performance and data pack rat dream come true..

that website is like 6 years old.

[MadMan007]

USB isnt a storage device, and USB is too slow really to be used for backung up massive amounts of data, with most external USB devices hitting a ceiling of around 25-28MB/sec it is not a viable solution for most.

USB 3.0 should help on the speed front. In fact even though it doesn't get talked about much I think USB 3.0 is one of the most exciting new 'platform level' techs coming soon.

[Mr.Guvernment]

with eSATA on most new mobo's i find USB almost obsolete for external storage needs, except for USB keys to take between computers.

[MadMan007]

Just remember what the 'U' in USB stands for ;) as in, it will be on ALL computers. If eSATA was that great it would be more universal but there always seems to be more USB options for external storage. It's cheaper to implement (I'm guessing) since it's host-based, that can be a disadvantage I suppose if you want to talk about 'technical' superiority (I don't just mean technology technical, I mean technically speaking if you want to talk about every little last bit of performance eSATA is superior) but it's not like we're worried about every 1% of CPU power any more. Longer wire runs is another good thing.

eSATA is on lots of aftermarket mobos but it's still not as widespread as USB especially from OEMs which is more important than retail mobos. Once USB 3.0 chipsets come out it will be on every single computer sold including OEM boxes which are the vast majority of the market and notebooks which is the growing market. I have a strong feeling it will kill off eSATA. eSATA will only remain relevant for external SSDs but I'm guessing those won't be too common for a long long time.

[Shiggity]

I'm hoping someone, somewhere figures out how to effectively transmit electricity wirelessly in the next 10 years.

10 years after that, you'd never see a wire again.

[MonkeyMhz]

I'm hoping someone, somewhere figures out how to effectively transmit electricity wirelessly in the next 10 years.

10 years after that, you'd never see a wire again.

And you forgot to mention that we all would be kemo patients by the age of 12.

= P

lol. jk.

USB 3.0 seems the way to go. Think instead of getting half life on a cd, you would get it on a orange usb with the lil half life logo on it! Ohhh Id love that! lol.