HD-DVD/BluRay Killer? TeraDisc

[mwgiii]

Blu-ray and HD DVD have pushed the limits of optical storage further than anyone thought possible. But a new technology has emerged which makes Blu-ray's 50GB capacity look tiny. Mempile in Israel says it's able to fit an incredible 1TB of data onto one "TeraDisc" which is the same size as CDs and DVDs. That's 20 times the capacity of a maxed-out dual-layer Blu-ray disc.


The incredible capacity achieved using this new technology is made possible by employing 200 5GB layers, each one only five microns apart. The discs are completely transparent to the red lasers which are used in the associated recorder.
Prototypes have already been made to store up to 800GB of data, and Mempile says it will crack the 1TB barrier before moving on to build 5TB blue laser disks.


Dr Beth Erez, Mempile's Chief Marketing Officer says that the first 1TB disks have a lifespan of 50 years and could be on the shelves in two to three years.



How to fit 1TB of data on one CD-sized disc - News - Tech.co.uk

 

[navychop]

Red laser. Sounds slow.

"FMD is the Next Big Thing!"

"HVD is the Next Big Thing!"

"SED is the Next Big Thing!"

"More Announcements are the Next Big Thing!"

 

[meStevo]

Good for optical storage.

Not really a contender for any kind of arms race with BD/HDDVD with no mention of movies and whatnot.

Have to wonder what their target is... with these HD and BD discs we will probably inch toward a new higher standard of High Def drive in PCs... this technology would I assume require a drive that can only read this media (along with normal CDs and DVDs I would hope). Reminds me of the 'superdisk' floppy drives now that I think about it.

So best it can likely strive for is to be a small niche in the optical/tape backup market, with the tops being to try and repeat the limited success of Iomega's Zip Drive line of products.

...until something better comes along with better technology (as you mentioned, red laser, sounds slow).

 

[diogen]

Since the first 5MB refrigirator size $50K hard drive from IBM there was always this feeling the "spinning metal plates" is a temporary solution to the storage requirements. When CDs first appeared, they had greater capacity than hard drives at that time. But still, in terms of size+price+speed nobody could beat the hard drive (one can add convenience and form factor to the list). And that remains the case today.

There was this fear about hitting the barrier of how dense the charge can be on the metal based on physical properties of the material. But that seems to be solved by now with perpendicular recording technics.

I don't think hard drives will be replaced as a mainstream storage medium any time soon.

Diogen.

 

[John Kotches]

Since the first 5MB refrigirator size $50K hard drive from IBM there was always this feeling the "spinning metal plates" is a temporary solution to the storage requirements. When CDs first appeared, they had greater capacity than hard drives at that time. But still, in terms of size+price+speed nobody could beat the hard drive (one can add convenience and form factor to the list). And that remains the case today.

There was this fear about hitting the barrier of how dense the charge can be on the metal based on physical properties of the material. But that seems to be solved by now with perpendicular recording technics.

I don't think hard drives will be replaced as a mainstream storage medium any time soon.

Diogen.

The next generation lays the bit locations down in a fixed fashion in a higher density than even PMR.

Cheers,