87GB On DVD-Sized Media

BostonMACOSX points to this report in the Detroit News that says, in part, "Boston College researchers have found a way to store about 19 times more data on a disk than a common DVD can hold, using optical media made with common products, the December issue of Nature Materials reports." And it's a mix of high and low tech: the disk is formed of "an epoxy glue sold at hardware stores and a glass-like substance," but written with a currently expensive laser.

Comments

Big deal...Constellation 3D had better...and died

[WaxParadigm]

The FIRST version of FMD from c-3d would have been 100G...they were thinking 20 layers (200Gig+...I think I read somewhere they were hoping for a terabyte) would easily be possible..and they had tested throughput at rates high enough for 1080i HDTV (full-resolution) reads.

I think the company (which I once owned stock in) is now dead. Their site is not working. Here's a a couple interesting links to info...

http://www.filmandvideomagazine.com/Htm/2000/10_ 00 /News/c3d.htm

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~roidy23/technology s. htm

If they couldn't make it with this killer technology (TONS of storage) how does this other company expect to fare any better with technology that is only 1/10th the product.

C-3D was doing pretty well with agreements for disc makers, agreements with WAMO (who pushed DVD), etc.

Sucks ass when something this promising doesn't ever come to fruition. I remember last year this time they had working RW drives.

Damn it, I want FMD...not this wussy 80GB crap.

so what?

[io333]

I've been seeing reports of stuff like this for at least two years. Wasn't there someone just a few months ago, probably reported here... hang on a sec...

yea here it is.

Anyway, I've been seeing reports like this forever, but zero consumer products. When something hits the market, I'll be interested. Until then I don't care.

Remember the 'Scotch Tape Drive'?

[Jack William Bell]

This seems pretty similar to the 'Scotch Tape Drive' where they were getting 10 gigabytes of data onto a roll of adhesive tape using a laser in much the same way.

Jack William Bell

Re:When will consumers see this technology?

[Rader]

I hear ya. I have exactly half of the data you have, and having 20 spindles of 50-paks laying around isn't that hot.

Buying hard drives to hold it all isn't feasible, since it's a huge investment, and sizes keep going up and prices go down. (Not to mention you'd still want backups of that on....cdr!?)

And DVD-R will only help by 7X.

If blue-laser discs were out right now at the pace DVDR is, then that would be be a different story. That would be the perfect size to convert to right now to make it worth it.

Re:Journalism grammar school?

[shadow303]

Not exactly. There are some weird people who have this idea that a single piece of data is a datum, and data is the plural of datum. Using that warped philosophy, it would be correct.

Blu-Ray?

[tedDancin]

What is happening with Blu-Ray, the DVD format that nine members of the DVD forum supported earlier this year? Blu-Ray uses a 405nm blue-violet laser, and can hold up to 27GB on a single-sided single-layer disc. While the capacity is not as great, the commercial support is.

I think I'll wait on this format (that has the backing of Hitachi, Sony, Pioneer, Philips etc etc) before going out on a limb with any epoxy solution.