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When you add the amount of time, money, kit and effort that'd go into either burning that many optical disks or filling that many harddrives, then connecting them on the other end and reading it out makes it less attractive than fiber optics.

Do we really need a 747? Well, let's see. 15 PB of data, how many 1TB hard drives would that actually be? According to Wikipedia:

1 PB = 10^15.
1 TB = 10^12

Thus, 1 PB could be written as 1,000 TB of data. So 15,000 TB hard drives will do it. Use RAID 5, say 4/5 (where 5 disks replicate 4 images) so we'll add 25%. That brings us to 18,500 HDD with decent redundancy.

The weight of a 3.5" HDD is apparently as much as about 700 grams so we'll say that's around 25 ounces per drive. That's 375,000 ounces, or 23,437 pounds. But a Boeing 747 can carry about 10x that much!

Methinks you've seriously overbuilt your solution. Heck even a little 727 is still way overbuilt. (max load 58,000 pounds) And 727s are dirt cheap nowadays.

But is that actually better?

Fiber optics nowadays can be pushed closed to 1 Tb per second. That's certainly in the range of what we're talking about. Actual numbers looks like 1 Tb per second could conceivably transfer 15 TB every 5.5 days or so, assuming optimal conditions. How much "dark fiber" is there under the ocean? Not much, I'd wager. Meaning this may likely require another cable to be laid == big, expensive, long project.

So the 727 is probably the best bet, since they can get started pretty much right away, and won't have to put together a 5 year project to run cables under the ocean...

Hmm. more curiosity - a 727 burns about 1,800 gallons of fuel every hour - costing around $1.84 per gallon. 3800 miles, about 3000 knots, or 10 hours at 300 Knots... around $65,000 per round trip. Since the budget of the entire project is 6.7 Billion dollars, it would take over 10,000 such trips to equal 10% of the total CERN budget.

In short, it's a deal at twice the price!

If any Mac users are looking for something lightweight and sturdy to wrap their *Book, check out Radtech's affordable lineup of cases. I've been using the NeoCase for 8 months now and it's served me well: the wetproof (I wouldn't go so far as to say "waterproof"--don't take your PowerBook swimming), zip-up, use-in cover is a nigh-on perfect compromise for users who actually want to use their laptops on the go. Its padding is thick enough that, as long as it's packed tightly enough in the case, your laptop should be protected from all but plane crashes. It's also a more practical and affordable choice than most of the big ol' hefty cases out there.

If any Mac users are looking for something lightweight and sturdy to wrap their *Book, check out Radtech's affordable lineup of cases. I've been using the NeoCase for 8 months now and it's served me well: the wetproof (I wouldn't go so far as to say "waterproof"--don't take your PowerBook swimming), zip-up, use-in cover is a nigh-on perfect compromise for users who actually want to use their laptops on the go. Its padding is thick enough that, as long as it's packed tightly enough in the case, your laptop should be protected from all but plane crashes. It's also a more practical and affordable choice than most of the big ol' hefty cases out there.

There is no doubt that what you want is a RadTech BT500. I bought one when I bought my PowerBook early last year. It's a tiny little mouse, and it's easy to carry around. That said, it is comfortable and works great. It looks nice too. Looking at the product page, they've changed it since I bought it. Mine is powered by two AAA batteries, and it lasts a long time. The new once comes with two NiMH AAAs and can be recharged with an included USB cable, which would be nice to have.

My wife has a Powerbook with built in Bluetooth and we bought her a mini RadTech mouse that she loves. It is a little small for me, but fits her hand nicely. http://www.radtech.us/Products/BT500.aspx

http://www.radtech.us/Products/SleevziPod.aspx

Pricey, but has tactile pad thingies.

It's all about STM laptop bags, in particular, the Alley model. You can buy them for reasonable prices in the US from Radtech. They cost $45, and fit my MacBook Pro 15.5" lappy perfectly. These are definitely the most stylish bags I was able to find after an hour's worth of googling... You don't have to look like a tool just to carry your favorite tool with you...

I bought a shoulder bag for my PowerBook from RadTech. If their backpacks are near the quality of the shoulder bag, I can warmly recommend them. They are a bit pricey, over $70, though. Premium costs.

Not to mention that if you plan to get an iPod cover (eg, iSkin, Podsleev), it won't fit into the dock anyway.