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Iomega Patents 850GB DVD Nano-Technology

Posted by CmdrTaco on

Mike writes "US Patent & Trademark Office recently issued a patent to Iomega Corp. for its work with nano-technology and optical data storage. New technology, called Articulated Optical - DVD will allow 40-100 times more data (upto 850 Gb) to be stored on a DVD with data transfer rates 5-30 times faster than today's DVDs, and at similarly low costs. AO - DVD is a novel technique of encoding data on the surface of a DVD by using reflective nano-structures to encode data in a highly multi-level format."

4 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. Yea well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've got a patent pending for a terrabyte DVD drive and a 100 terrabyte DVD drive. So, there!

    Of course, just like the Iomega vaporware, you can't get one of my drives yet either but, I'll have the patent Real Soon (tm). I think I'll release Duke Nukem as the first title on my new world dominating format.

    TTFN

  2. Re:Cool by gunnk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have you ever dropped a DLT?

    Someone over in our Comp Sci department did that a few years ago. It looked okay, though, so it went back on the shelf.

    Next time they ran a restore from the tape it destroyed the DLT drive. Unfortunately, they thought the drive was the problem, not the tape, so they stuck the tape in a backup drive... oops.

    The example you gave also has a couple of others problems:

    1 - No matter what media you use you NEVER rely on one copy as the only copy of your data. If you do, it is NOT a BACKUP.

    2 - A DVD out of it's case is easy to scratch up. Of course, magnetic tape has a pretty short lifespan out of its case as well -- the difference is only that the tape goes into the drive CASE AND ALL. When you put your backup tape in a case you are really putting your tape + case into a second protective case. I've actually seen drives that do the same thing for optical disks. It's not a bad idea for critical backups.

    --
    Life is short: void the warranty.
  3. DVD's as backup by phorm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    (some of these apply to tape as well)

    a) Burn times are a big factor here, sure 850GB is great... but not if it takes almost a day for a backup run. Current DVD burning is fairly fast though... so hopefully we get good speeds (5-30 times faster than today's DVDs sounds promising)

    b) If (a) works out well, and discs don't cost a crapload... you can burn multiple DVD's just in case of disc-rot. Store both in good conditions. Media is still subject to reliability, but many a company has relied on tapes as well only to find them demagnetized, etc at restore time (TEST those tapes, people).

    c) Storage space could be saved big-time with this, and a multi-disk burner could be fairly easy to setup too

    d) Tapes may not rot as easily, but DVD's don't get mad if you post 'em up using hard-drive magnets :-)

  4. Since it's Iomega.... by Slashcrap · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...allow me to translate the press release into reality :

    New technology, called Articulated Optical - DVD will allow 40-100 times more data (upto 850 Gb) to be lost from a DVD at a speed 5-30 times faster than today's DVDs, and at a truly ridiculous cost. AO - DVD is a novel technique of destroying data on the surface of a DVD by using reflective nano-structures to completely fuck up your data beyond any means of recovery in a highly multi-level format.

    Click, click, click, grrinnd, crrruunnncchh. FUCK!