A Terabyte of Data on a Regular DVD?
Roland Piquepaille writes "This is the promise of the 3-D Optical Data Storage system developed at the University of Central Florida (UCF). This technology allows to record and store at least 1,000 GB of data on multiple layers of a single disc. The system uses lasers to compact large amounts of information onto a DVD and the process involves shooting two different wavelengths of light onto the recording surface. By using several layers, this technique will increase the storage capacity of a standard DVD to more than a terabyte. Read more for additional references and a diagram showing how this two-photon 3D optical system reads data."
Can't help wondering how durable the resulting storage solution will prove to be. Maybe it's just me, but I'm always wary of solutions that use things for purposes they weren't designed for.
You sound like "640 KB is more than enough", "There is demand in the world for upto six computers". If you build it, they will use it.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I might actually be able to back my data up at home to something other than more striped HDs!!
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
That doesn't sound like a regular DVD to me.
Both articles repeat the phrase "uses lasers to compact large amounts of information onto a DVD" and then state that several layers would then be utilized. First of all, what the hell does using lasers to compact information mean? As far as I can tell, the articles explain how they are able to cause a state change in recording media with two wavelengths of light, and read it using a single wavelength, and that this media layer is particularly thin, allowing for multiple layers to be stacked up on the disc.
In my opinion, if you're going to the trouble of utilizing a multiple beam system in your drive, holographic storage makes a lot more sense, as both beams are the same wavelength (meaning only a single laser and a beam splitter are needed), your read times are going to be tremendously faster, due to the data all being stored in the same layer, obviating the need to refocus or switch beams, and finally, due to the nature of holography (in that small sections of a hologram contain the information needed to reconstruct the entire hologram), a disc with holographic storage should be much more resistant to read errors resulting from scratches, whereas with one of these, a scratch could render data on several layers unreadable.
I have enough trouble with my regular DVDs getting hosed. I imagine this would only make the process of data retreival even more delicate. Can the data be stored more robustly if some storage capacity is given up?
Oo! Oo! Could this be done with software, even if the manufacturer decides to go with one nonrobust terabyte?
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
FMD-ROMs were the wave of the future, what? 6 years ago? Promising to hold up to 140GB?e r_Disc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_Multilay
None of this kind of vaporware will ever see the light of day unless Sony or Microsoft wants it to.
-tyfighter
Indeed. I remember back when my favorite game came on two 5.25" floppies. After a while, it was twelve 3.5" floppies. My current favorite game comes on two DVDs.
If the capacity is there, somebody will fill it. That somebody will likely make games.