Following the links from Slashdot will bring you to some rather interesting research being done on Optical Beam Lithography which has created a possible improvement to DVD storage. Researchers have developed a new technique and a new resin capable of storage densities much higher than current optical media. A 3D optical beam with a 9nm feature size and 52nm two-line resolution is used to create the light sensitive features that allow optical media to store data. If this is developed into a product that will be both inexpensive and robust we could see optical media with storage of up to 1TB. You are going to need a faster way to write to it than what currently exists if you don't want to wait a very long time for that write to finish though.
"Using a two-light-beam method a company claims to have overcome Abbe's Law to dramatically increase the storage density for optical media, to the 9 nm scale. From the article: 'The technique is also cost-effective and portable, as only conventional optical and laser elements are used, and allows for the development of optical data storage with long life and low energy consumption, which could be an ideal platform for a Big Data centre.'"
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Microsoft's canceled 'Project Brazil' took aim at Amazon, eBay @ The Register
- Hey fanboi, is that an EXPLODING BATTERY in your MacBook Pro? @ The Register
- New super maxed out on first day of operations @ The Register
- Micron posts first quarterly profit for two YEARS @ The Register
- Whole Human Brain Mapped In 3D @ Slashdot
- Globalfoundries on capacity expansion spree @ DigiTimes
- Get 150+ Games up to 85% off during the Longest Day of Gaming @ Good Old Games
That’s very nice but, by the
That’s very nice but, by the time this technology will become available at a reasonable cost, 1TB flash drives will be a better alternative… heck, my next build won’t even have a disk drive
It actually states storage
It actually states storage capacities of 1000 terabytes, not the 1TB stated in your news blurb. Not that 1TB optical discs would be anything to scoff at, but it certainly pales in comparison to 1 petabyte.
Lets be honest. Will this
Lets be honest. Will this ever come to fruition? We’ve been hearing about 3D Holographic Discs that can practically store a limitless amount of data, etc. since the 90’s. I wont hold my breath for a single 1TB optical disc in the next 10 years.
Let alone. Can you imagine having to read/write, or burn one of those suckers? Dear god. It would be tape drives all over again.
1 petabyte, still not enough
1 petabyte, still not enough space for all those cat videos!
Keep in mind that the more
Keep in mind that the more you increase the data density of a CD, the more data is lost with even the tiniest scratch.
When you enter the nm range, you need a microscope to see things, but when you get even a tiny scratch, you can see it and with a high data density, you can easily lose a megabyte or more from just a tiny scratch.
Maybe a disk in a sealed case
Maybe a disk in a sealed case with transparent window for the laser to pass through, or the disk itself coated with dimond or some other transparent scratch proof materal! The disk probably will have to be made of some super strong materal to be able to handle the stress of being spun up to a much higher speed! And this laser focusing technology probably has other uses such as higher density magneto-optical hard drives, and laser etched IC circuits, Imagine not having to create multi million dollar masks to etch out some custom CPUs or create the masks using a rapid laser based process!
always at issue is not the
always at issue is not the capacity but the concern that we will steal movies and music. that was what hampered the rollout of blue ray rewritables for so long and even now- the cost of the discs are prohibitive.
so though i see the new tech for DVD;s as an attempt to get past the agreements tying up bluray – i see it as not coming to market- the big movie houses and music houses will ensure that the new writers and discs will have to pay a considerable sum to off set piracy.
It might be a great storage
It might be a great storage way if the speed can be accelerated. What happens when there is some major Denial of service attack or virus and hard data back up is the last line of defense? I could easily see a multi TB disc being a godsend.