DVD with capacity 50,000 GB

[roma_turok]

Indian-born scientist developing coated DVD's that can make hard disks obsolete
Sydney, Jul 8 (ANI): An Indian born scientist in the US is working on developing DVD's which can be coated with a light -sensitive protein and can store up to 50 terabytes (about 50,000 gigabytes) of data.

Professor V Renugopalakrishnan of the Harvard Medical School in Boston has claimed to have developed a layer of protein made from tiny genetically altered microbe proteins which could store enough data to make computer hard disks almost obsolete.

"What this will do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely," ABC quoted Prof. Renugopalakrishnan, a BSc in Chemistry from Madras University and PhD in biophysics from Columbia/State University of New York, Buffalo, New York as saying.

The light-activated protein is found in the membrane of a salt marsh microbe Halobacterium salinarum and is also known as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). It captures and stores sunlight to convert it to chemical energy. When light shines on bR, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules each with a unique shape and colour before returning to its 'ground state'.

Since the intermediates generally only last for hours or days, Prof Renugopalakrishnan and his colleagues modified the DNA that produces bR protein to produce an intermediate that lasts for more than several years. They also engineered the bR protein to make its intermediates more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data.

This, they said, ultimately paved the way for a binary system to store data.

"The ground state could be the zero and any of the intermediates could be the one," he said.

Prof Renugopalakrishnan now opines that the protein layer could also allow DVDs and other external devices to store terabytes of information.

The new protein-based DVD will have advantages over current optical storage devices such as the Blue-ray as well, because the information is stored in proteins that are only a few nanometres across.

"The protein-based DVDs will be able to store at least 20 times more than the Blue-ray and eventually even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes) of information. You can pack literally thousands and thousands of those proteins on a media like a DVD, a CD or a film or whatever," he said.

The high-capacity storage devices will be essential to the defence, medical and entertainment industries.

"You have a compelling need that is not going to be met with the existing magnetic storage technology," he added.

However, there's a flip side to it also.

"Science can be used and abused. Making large amounts of information so portable on high-capacity removable storage devices will make it easier for information to fall into the wrong hands. Information can be stolen very quickly. One has to have some safeguards there," he added.


http://in.tech.yahoo.com/060708/139/65pz8.html

[Dv8ted2]

I really do not see this as a viable solution. One scratch and you lose a ton of data.

Can you say vaporware?

[ROF]

I hope not. With 50TB of storage per disc there would not be alot of interchanging of your discs. Actually, a good idea for this would be to sell the drive and the disc as a sealed component. We do not remove platters of hard drives very often if at all so that would be a viable option for this technolog

[JoeTheDude]

I've always wanted to have a storage medium that has a 50,000 GB data capacity and erases itself in a few years.

This way, I can spend a considerable amount of time re-copying it, over and over again.

.....

Sorry about the sarcasm, but unless they can modify the stuff to last at least 50 years, it's not worth it to me.

Allthough, I'd wager that Hollywood will love these disks...

[greymalkin]

shouldn't it read "India born"?

This is a concept in it's infancy..bad-mouthing it becuase of what it may or may not do is pretty pointless. A "few years" is also a relative term...couldn't it be said of current hard drives that they last a "few years". Don't your existing cd's and dvd's last "a few years"? So what is your complaint again?

[RLT69]

"The protein-based DVDs will be able to store at least 20 times more than the Blue-ray and eventually even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes) of information. You can pack literally thousands and thousands of those proteins on a media like a DVD, a CD or a film or whatever," he said.

Thanks for playing. 20 times? Try 160 times!! That's the capacity of Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD), 3.9 Terabytes. You have this technology moving into production this year, not eventually.

Protein-based systems will not replace solid state or optical technologies anytime soon.

[ROF]

shouldn't it read "India born"?

This is a concept in it's infancy..bad-mouthing it becuase of what it may or may not do is pretty pointless. A "few years" is also a relative term...couldn't it be said of current hard drives that they last a "few years". Don't your existing cd's and dvd's last "a few years"? So what is your complaint again?

You must remember some people believe their optical media will last 100 years because the packaging or advertisement tells them so.

[RLT69]

Since the intermediates generally only last for hours or days, Prof Renugopalakrishnan and his colleagues modified the DNA that produces bR protein to produce an intermediate that lasts for more than several years. They also engineered the bR protein to make its intermediates more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data.

Now do you see the problem? The intermediates are not PERMENANT! They will deteriorate. Thus you would lose data. Essentially your bacteria based storage medium would need an EXPIRATION DATE.

Yes it's valid to criticize because the scientist is pushing this as a demise of the DVD without a working product. Until we have something that can be tested and verified - this is nothing more than vaporware.

FYI DVD and CDs can be tested to determine how long they will last.

[ROF]

So there is proof that DVD Media lasts 100 years? I had no idea DVD media was that old.

[Supreme2k]

You forget: Time machines have been around for many years, but the only problem is that organic material cannot go through. That's why it's only used on such things as CDs, DVDs and light bulbs. Skynet has much more information about the process.

[ViRaL1]

You forget: Time machines have been around for many years, but the only problem is that organic material cannot go through. That's why it's only used on such things as CDs, DVDs and light bulbs. Skynet has much more information about the process.

That's what happened to all my socks, isn't it?

[RLT69]

So there is proof that DVD Media lasts 100 years? I had no idea DVD media was that old.

Hey dumbass it's called "accelerated aging techniques."

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/loc/overview.html


:P

[Noahtuck]

So there is proof that DVD Media lasts 100 years? I had no idea DVD media was that old.

Hey dumbass it's called "accelerated aging techniques."

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/loc/overview.html


:P

And your point would be ?

The only TRUE ABSOLUTE proof is when one that age is set down in front of us.

When i see a dvd-r or pressed dvd that is 25 years old and works perfectly then there will be proof that this "1" disc or brand or W.E. disc last's that long... unfortunately they will never prove to any of us they will last 100 years..... hard to prove anything to us after we are dead... now our kids or grand kids will either look back and laugh at us for believing they would last that long or laugh at us for not believing they would last that long 8)

[RLT69]

And your point would be ?

That there is a reasonable way to assess the longevity of a CD or DVD. These methods can give you an estimate of how long one can expect the medium to last and under what conditions. You don't have to wait 100 years to know if a CD or DVD is going to last that long.

What's also nice is that if the media is very defective, you can learn now, rather than later, if the disc is going to die on you. That information helps the consumer. So for example, if some DVD only last 1 year, you might want to know that now.

It's something I like to call research. But hey if you want to think it's all magic go right ahead.

:P

[kitty]

The scratch problem is why everybody hates CDs and DVDs and prefers to store their valuable data on 5.25" floppy discs.

[greymalkin]

Since the intermediates generally only last for hours or days, Prof Renugopalakrishnan and his colleagues modified the DNA that produces bR protein to produce an intermediate that lasts for more than several years. They also engineered the bR protein to make its intermediates more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data.

Now do you see the problem? The intermediates are not PERMENANT! They will deteriorate.

you've just re-worded your original argument which has already been addressed. The fact that they aren't permanent surprises you? What are you comparing it to? What component of your existing computer is permanent? Which part of it will you have even in 5 years? A line of rolleyes won't diminish this point.

[Dv8ted2]

Which part of it will you have even in 5 years?

Hard Drives - CD Burner - Ram Sticks - Processors - Motherboards - Processor Fans - Case

[Wile_E]

50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes)

Gee whiz! With that much storage on one disc, it would completely eliminate having to use data compression. I could store my entire video library in an uncompressed format. But until then, we will hopefully see HVD soon.

[RLT69]

you've just re-worded your original argument which has already been addressed. The fact that they aren't permanent surprises you? What are you comparing it to? What component of your existing computer is permanent? Which part of it will you have even in 5 years? A line of rolleyes won't diminish this point.

1. My argument has not been addressed in the least.

2. More importantly there isn't a product that we can test to verify these claims - this is vaporware.

3. Obviously you fail to grasp the basic problem with this bacteria - it's not normal for it last in this intermediate state, meaning it will return to its ground state. When it returns to its ground state, you lose data. Get the picture. So we are forcing it to exist in a pro-longed intermediate state, which may or may not last.

This problem does not exist with CD or DVDs.

It's basic science people.

[ZAPPER]

50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes)

Gee whiz! With that much storage on one disc, it would completely eliminate having to use data compression. I could store my entire video library in an uncompressed format. But until then, we will hopefully see HVD soon.

That is what I am drooling over "Zero compression" and using a better format. Who cares if a movie takes 200 GB to save. (I mean yes that is a little overkill, but you get the point)

I also agree that there is no permanent media or compoments, but being able to save until the next and better generation has kind of become the game, hasn't it?

[MOVIEGEEK]

I think they should develop a disc made out of gold(read:Voyager spacecraft),that way if you get tired of the video you can still save it for your retirement.

[JoeTheDude]

Will they be putting living, geneticly modified bacteria in (or on the surface of) the disk, or are they just gonna rip out protien chains and put them in (or on the surface of) the disk [killing the bacteria in the process]?

I'm starting to get a little worried about possible health concers when the landfills start filling up with these things.

O' course, not all bacteria is bad, per se...

However... if the Bacteria itself is dead and all they are using from it is extracted protiens, perhaps if they can also make a device that you can run the disk through once a year for a "recharge", they may be on to something...
Then again, I don't even know if such a thing is even possible...

[painkiller]

One good sneeze and its Bye Bye Birdie.

[lordsmurf]

Indian-born scientist

Why is this important again?

A journalism student would get an "F" for that assignment, and a stern talking to.
To believe this could be shown in print is ghastly.

Although I have to admit, saying "Prof. Renugopalakrishnan" in class has got to be a headache.

[ZAPPER]

Indian-born scientist

Why is this important again?

A journalism student would get an "F" for that assignment, and a stern talking to.
To believe this could be shown in print is ghastly.

Although I have to admit, saying "Prof. Renugopalakrishnan" in class has got to be a headache.

Click on the link to see if there is any revelance.

It may have been a student

There is almost no such thing as an unslanted news story :P

When all else fails, blame the editor!

[lordsmurf]

I checked it again, looked more carefully this time around: I see: "Asian News International" and "Yahoo! India". But I still say it's crap. Relevance could be argued, but it would surely not be headline relevance.

As far as the tech goes, everything helps. More research towards the true next-gen format, not this wanna-be HD/BD junk they're trying to force feed consumers.

[greymalkin]

Which part of it will you have even in 5 years?

Hard Drives - CD Burner - Ram Sticks - Processors - Motherboards - Processor Fans - Case

ouch! should've bumped it up to 10 years i guess .

RLT..does two rolleyes trump your one??

It's in it's infant stages in case you didn't get that from my first post..and saying you can prove a cd will last 100 years and that you know exactly what can and cannot be done with this bacteria is ridiculous. I was addressing your displeasure that this wasn't a permanent (that's how you spell it) media and that it will expire. That was your gripe and that is what i addressed by saying nothing is permenent. If you read the article they said the bacteria was already modified to last in it's intermediate state "more than a few years". I don't know if you read that far before posting..if not you might want to go back and check it out. Which brings me back to the original point I made after you complained about it losing it's intermediate state. If it can stay in that state for many years it's life is no different than that of a regular hard drive. They just die in different ways. For a bacteria it begins to return to it's ground state..for a hard drive it eventually fails because of bad sectors..mechanical failure..etc. You continued to complain that it doesn't last forever...ie.making the same argument as before which i again addressed. Then you said I'm not addressing your issue at all, made the same argument about how it's going to go bad eventually (what does that remind me of..oh yeah! every hard drive I've ever seen) and again made a comment about how you can read and understand science..followed up by your signature rolleyes.

it's common sense.

[hanugro]

The most important issue for me is durability. Proteins seems not a good way to keep data for 50 years. It is no good to keep 50TB of data for few years only. I'd rather has system that only keep 1TB but can be read 50 years later.

[JoeTheDude]

I know that this project is still in the early stages,
the the specs of read/write speeds aren't pinned down yet,
the longivity limit is yet to be reached,
and that the cost of each recordable disk is still in question.

However...
Assuming that I can burn data onto the disk at 50 MB/sec (sustained) it's gonna take about 12 days of constant burning to fill it full of data.

True, we don't know what speed we can write to, or read from the disk yet, but if the source material is on a present day SATA-1 (Non-Raid) drive, it could possibly be very time consuming to reburn stuff before the disk expires.

Now, if the sucker was marketed like that other guy suggested (self-cointained like a present-day Hard Drive is) only costs about $50, and gave you at least a month's warning before it is gonna die on you, it would be very attractive to people who capture or work with a lot of HDTV type of Video.

[ZAPPER]

Whoa. Tuff crowd tonite.

I always kind of hoped for a no moving part flash drive of this size or something of that order.

But you got to give credit where credit is due. The guy is taking swamp scum and turning it into a DVD. Or at least is trying to. I wish him all the luck.

As for the journalistic merits of the story, keep in mind, it is all for our entertainment pleasure. 8)


Now, where did I leave that 100 MPG carburator?