Stacks of ultra-thin DVDs approach terabyte level
On April 19, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. announced the development of new volume optical storage technology that can provide terabyte-level storage capacity in a compact device. Relying on unique nanoimprint technology, the company has succeeded in reducing the thickness of DVDs to 0.092 mm (92 micrometers) — which is 1/13th the thickness of current DVDs — while maintaining the standard capacity of 4.7 GB.
The system features what the company calls Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc (SVOD) technology, which consists of 100 ultra-thin optical discs (12-cm in diameter, the same as current DVDs) loaded into a 6.5-cm (2.5-inch) thick cartridge. The result is a compact optical disc library system (1/10th the conventional size) capable of combining random access memory and long-term storage.
When laminated on both sides, disc capacity will reach 9.4 GB, bringing the 100-disc cartridge up to near-terabyte level with 940 GB of storage. The company claims that next-generation blue laser technology could boost cartridge capacity to 5 terabytes (50 GB for each double-sided disc).
According to Hitachi Maxell, potential applications of this storage media include library systems for business and institutions. While continuing to investigate other applications, the company aims to cultivate the market by presenting this technology at academic conferences and exhibitions.
The discs will be priced at under 40,000 yen (US$325) for a stack of 100.
[Source: IT Media, Hitachi Maxell press release]
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thats just bonkers!
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I dont think it is true anyways, looks really Interesting
Hilarious if it is true :)
amazing…….thin,smart & the storage capacity is also fantastic….yaap…….its true & it touches the realtiy of dream………:)
The photo is clearly ’shopped, because the reflection on the dvd is from a flat one, not a bended one.
The light will be different were it bends.
Im sure that if they are real, they would be unbearably slow. The disk is too thin to spin at the speeds in current drives without shattering, and in fact cds come quite close to physical limits within cd drives. I guess with many disks in paralell, speed would be improved, but with a massive increase in cost due to more reading heads. And what’s wrong with a simple hard drive?
just if you are interested to read the original announcement (which is in Japanese) - i ran it through Google Translator, enjoy :)
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.maxell.co.jp%2Fjpn%2Fnews%2F2006%2Fnews060419.html&langpair=ja|en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8