12 Terabyte DVD Technology Demonstrated

[modeps]

In completely cool (and pretty geeky) news, some Australian researchers think they have found a way to store 1.1 terabytes per cubic centimeter. Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/05/researchers-hope-to-cram-12tb-of-data-on-dvd-sized-disk.ars):

The upshot is that, until magnetic bits can no longer be shrunk and multilayer optical discs reach their limits, any new technology has to have all the good features of current data storage techniques and be better. A bunch of Aussies think they might have hit the sweet spot with a new multilayer optical storage medium that has the potential to store data at around 1.1Tb/cm3. A standard DVD clocks in at 51MB in a square centimeter in each of its layers.

At heart, the new medium looks rather like the old optical medium, consisting of multiple layers where data can be stored. However, instead of using a dye or a pit-island approach, the layers are filled with gold nanorods. The electrons in the nanorods will only respond strongly to an incident light if it has the right color and the electric field of the illuminating light lines up with the axis of the nanorod. When this occurs, the nanorod scatters light everywhere, glows like crazy, and heats up.

If hit with a sufficiently powerful laser, the rod will melt and change its shape, which also changes the color of the light it responds to. It is this step—exceeding the critical power density required to melt the nanorods—that is at the heart of this research.

Blu-Ray, watch out!... (maybe)

[Zander]

Cubic storage (finally)?

[Windsong]

"glows like crazy, and heats up."

Fail. The last thing you want is MORE heat. And in any case, these types of "prototypes" are a dime a dozen and come along all the time. Try toppling Blu-Ray, then we'll have a look at it.

[Samstag]

Hooray! The PS4 might end up costing upwards of $3000, but finally we'll have a future-proof console. Until the petabyte drive comes along, at least.

[swiftdraw]

For those who dislike reading articles, this has not actually tested in disk form yet

So now for a few cautions: this was not demonstrated using a rotating disc, the read out process used a photomultipler tube rather than a photodiode, and the three colors are such that they cannot be obtained from a single diode laser. All this means that the read/write unit would require three laser diodes, a bulky vacuum tube, and a high-voltage power supply. The experiments were performed with a high power laser, but this is not too important, because the power densities used are readily achievable with low-power diode lasers.

[swiftdraw]

Pardon me, rotating disk.

[gzsfrk]

Hooray! The PS4 might end up costing upwards of $3000, but finally we'll have a future-proof console. Until the petabyte drive comes along, at least.

Seconded. I've been reading about the "next big thing in optical storage" for the better part of 10 years now, promising 100s of gigs of storage with holographic technology. So far, Blu-ray and HD-DVD are the only ones to actually make it to market, and with iffy results at that. There just isn't yet a huge need for large, compact, optical storage technology except for the purposes of backing up data. And if I can purchase a 1TB hard drive for what a single multi-terabyte optical disk costs (with the inevitable failure rates that will ensue), I'd take my chances with another SATA-3G hard drive in a hot-swappable bay.

[AntB]

Ah, I can't wait to gloriously destroy gigabytes of data with a millimeter long scratch!

[LilAbner]

Wake me when we get away from disc-based storage.

[net7runner]

Not sure we're going to have a successor to Blu-Ray...
Just sayin. Hard drive storage ++

[pwnophobia]

Give me a player optimized, out of the box, for my TV that allows me to stream and/or download movies onto it. I don't want anymore discs because they take up too much space!

[blackzc]

Stupid shit, what the hell dont waste my time, 4 gigs is plenty enough DVD fo lyfe!!12TBDVD FTLrofl!....sorry i just wanted to fit in, you guys are so snarky and cool.

[blackzc]

This would be very usable, it would just have to go in a cartridge to keep them from scratching.


http://i44.tinypic.com/2j43mo6.jpg

[blackzc]

LOL sry....lol

[Cefca]

Personally I´m tired of discs. I didn´t jump on the Blu-ray wagon (and don´t intend to) and I don´t want another disc format for the next thing. Give me some new technology or bigger and more affordable hard drives!

[AlmostSente]

I want cubeshaped storage devices. Kind of like a 6-sided die. Call it a matrix cube and sell it for shitloads. ;)

[Jotoco]

I want cubeshaped storage devices. Kind of like a 6-sided die. Call it a matrix cube and sell it for shitloads. ;)

YEAH! It would be read by 6 lasers simultaneously and be extremely fast!

[Speedbag]

"glows like crazy, and heats up."

Hmmmm, sounds like a perfect match for the next Xbox.

[keelu]

It almost makes sense to go back to cartridges, but in a smaller USB form factor. Flash is getting cheap.

[gzsfrk]

It almost makes sense to go back to cartridges, but in a smaller USB form factor. Flash is getting cheap.

Sensei says, "Cheap flash is cheap."

Seriously--I love the fact that I can pick up a 2GB microSD for about $7 shipped, but the read/write times on those cheap ones are garbage. Certainly nowhere near as fast as a 16x DVD drive.

GOOD flash memory, however.... if it keeps getting cheaper, that might ultimately end up being a good option. (Either that or streaming from online storage if we get the infrastructure in place.)

[Rhaze]

Bio-neural gelpack/cartridges of data storagez!

[Methos]

I think technology like this will only be viable for mass storage and networks. Movie/TV studios are not going to put whole series or catalogs of films onto a single disc. How would they price it? Would anyone actually pay 300+ dollars for an entire TV series on 1 disc?

[Mr.Green]

Blackzc, you couldn't find a bigger picture? I barely see it.