"TeraDisc" DVD-sized optical storage

[roma_turok]

Mempile shows off "TeraDisc" DVD-sized optical storage

Somehow, in a world of 300GB holographic discs being packaged with cereal boxes -- OK, maybe we're not quite there yet -- a 1TB optical disc doesn't sound too terribly far fetched. However, Mempile's upcoming TeraDisc technology deserves no scoffing, with its 100 virtual layers for storage at a "fraction of the price" of other storage solutions on the market. Currently the disc can store 500GB in a transparent disc the thickness of a DVD, but future optimizations will allow for 200 layers of data, with 5GB on each layer, for a whole terabyte of good times.

The capacity improvements come from the fact that the disc is transparent, so the laser doesn't have to bounce off of anything, it just goes right through. Right now the technology is still in development, but "strategic agreements" are already in place with media and device manufacturers, so all we've got to worry about is where to store all these cute kitten pics of ours while we're waiting for these discs to hit shelves.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/28/mempile-shows-off-teradisc-dvd-sized-optical-storage

[CrayonEater]

Can't wait til HVD is available to consumers. Oooooh...

[dvd3500]

Is it me or did we already see these in Star Trek?

[rotten apple]

Ok so i'll let you have a laugh at my lack of O(ptical) Drive tech knowledge but isn't it possible read/write SPEED might be a bottle neck with such increases in size unless its totally unrelated to current reflection based? With such little knowledge i only have observation of current proggress; with DVD current highest read-writes, given the top speed is only reached from 'a full run' to the end/edge of the disc, the latest x18 and x20 turn out to be little more than marketing gimmicks in practice imo especially cf the x8 to x16 jump.

With BD/HD-DVD the top read/write speeds for data storage given the much bigger capacity seem like a positive crawl unless they're going to take massive jumps every year or so like DVD read/write tech did.

Unless i've misunderstood the point, surely optical storage (at least the comercial use products i've mentioned) has little hope of reaching the rate of data transferance and so practicality of TB storage of convential HDD (+ cheapest than its ever been per unit capacity). Which itself has a pitiful data transference rate cf. to flash storage technology. While current flash TB storage is not a practicality today i'm sure and i don't have the knowledge to know if it ever will be or is even theoretically possible , it has been making massive strides in price/capacity.However perhaps it is always easier to make such relative strides in technology in its early life - perhaps it will plateau (before reaching 1TB) like DVD data transferance seems to have but didn't i read its possible to buy a 20gb flash drive Lap top even if its not economically viable for mass market?

Finally while the discs themselves may well be comparibly cheap given their capacity what about the practicality of the drive technology and initial price??? If forced to make a prediction, if flash technology does become the replacement of todays conventional hdd this sort of mechanical based tech(along with conventional hdd) will join the vinyl disc in graveyard tech.

[yoda313]

would these transparent discs be scratch proof????

[Wile_E]

Why is the hub so large? They could increase capacity further, by using a smaller hub. Star Trek had isolinear chips that were square/rectangle.

Why only 5GB per layer?

[Cornucopia]

The difference in speeds should be like this:

Instead of a standard optical disc that reads data serially ONE bit at a time (in one long spiral), each "bit" will now be actually a 3D grid of multiple data pockets encoded as diffraction wavefront patterns (aka Hologram-like), which would bring an 8- to 16-fold increase, even if the radial speed of the disc isn't much different than it already is. Just because at each node in the grid, you'd be getting 8- to 16-bits instead of just one bit. (My numbers are just an example, don't actually remember what they are, though I have read the literature).

If BR/HDDVD is ~40MbpsMaxRate and ~50GBMaxSize, one of those type discs would be 320- to 640MbpsMaxRate and 400- to 800GBMaxSize (just using the numbers I threw out).

It's like, for years you've been living in 1D land (the world is a pencil line), and now you'd be living in 3D land.

Scott

[gll99]

Good to see that this technology is moving forward and didn't stop with just 2 competing formats. If the entertainment industry ever adopts those discs the copy protection they will want will leave about 20 gig of free space left for the movie and the addon junk for which they ask a premium price. Sounds about right doesn't it?

Seriously it shows that no one should think that the new hd formats will last their lifetime. We may be looking at a maximum ten year technology with further enhancements along the way and then have a major switch again. I just read about new HD formats already very near on the horizon that go heads above the so called best 1080p of hdDVD and blu-ray. Anyone buying new televisions, monitors and players today will be out of the "now" loop within a year or so. Most people who bought and are buying hd televisions already don't have native 1080p sets anyway so the effect is already here but it can only get worse.

These types of discs could be a major step forward. If they are rewritable with fast muti track read write capbiility they could even replace the hdd as we know it for reusable computer storage.

[Timoleon]

[quote="roma_turok"]Mempile shows off "TeraDisc" DVD-sized optical storage
Somehow, in a world of 300GB holographic discs being packaged with cereal boxes -- OK, maybe we're not quite there yet -- a 1TB optical disc doesn't sound too terribly far fetched...

<snip>

It's amazing how quickly things come upon us. I remember joking with a friend who was interested in computers (this was back in the day when PC Magazine ruled the roost and Computer Shopper was as big as a phone book) that someday he would own a laptop powered by a 486 processor, with a 100 megabyte hard drive and a 640 X 480 full VGA screen! At the time, I thought this was in the realm of science fiction. Now the thing is so passe that it's good for absolutely nothing --- even Third-Worlders would crush it into the mud.

...so, if the past is any indication of the future, I bet a one terabyte optical disk will seem quite quaint in another decade or so. It will be the sort of thing that you *might* still have in the back of your closet, perhaps hoping that some church or womens' club will accept your embarrassing donation of yesteryear's technology.

[MachineMan]

Can't use full disc labels or Sharpie pens on these. Only hub labels. With that much storage I would hope they package it with a sleeve to prevent scratches. The smallest scratch would probably kill it.