The 12-centimeter disc has 10 recording layers, each of which can store 32 Gigabytes. In comparison a Blu-ray Disc can hold 25GB on each layer, and a dual-layer disc is the highest capacity generally available at present.
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47 Responses
10.13.2009
How much did you pay for that flash drive?
10.13.2009
People still use CDs? I’ve got a 128GB flash drive that is better than any cd ever will be. Let CDs die in peace
10.13.2009
I can’t wait for someone to make a "funny" joke about storing porn on one of these disks.
10.13.2009
I don’t blame you, he invented wearing bat ears. Of course he can make 320GB Optical Disc.
10.13.2009
FTA: "The disc improves on a 200GB prototype that was shown by TDK in 2006, but holds less data than a 400GB prototype disc that was presented by Pioneer last year. [...] All three prototypes have something in common: their manufacturers have announced no plans to commercialize the discs. [...] So for now they serve as an indicator to where optical disc technology stands in the research laboratory."So, uh…this is notable *how* exactly?
10.13.2009
That’s A LOT of PORN!
10.13.2009
Sure a flash drive of that size costs more than 30 DVDs, or 15 DL DVDs, or 180 CDs… but it’s much easier to carry.And since this 320GB prototype disc is just that… a prototype… flash drives still win.Speaking of price… how much is that TDK drive and one piece of media? You’ll need at least 2 TDK drives to carry files between computers…I’ll stick with flash drives.. albeit a little smaller than 128GB
10.13.2009
cool now movies on disc can have more bonus features! I feel current offerings are lacking.
10.13.2009
Optical disks are still the best medium for long term archival storage. Even then, it is about 50 – 300 years depending on the quality of the disks. Most "average" disks will only last 20 years before data is lost. The typical flash drive will only reliably hold data for about 2 years. These "shelf life" numbers are heavily debated among people interested in this stuff.
10.13.2009
you and everyone else mate.
10.13.2009
BatRay Drives will be the wave of the future!!!
10.13.2009
That is just what millions of next gen console and hand held gamers have been saying for the last two years. That is until they found out one cannot sell, or trade all those digital downloaded games and movies. Digital downloads: You buy it… you are stuck with it forever. Just what the entertainment companies have wanted for decades.
10.13.2009
Next month – Samsung announce 1TB flash drive. $60.
10.13.2009
"Optical disks are still the best medium for long term archival storage"You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. Please tell me you don’t do this for a living.Burned optical disks have a lifespan of about 2-3 years, while magnetic tape has a lifespan of about 10 years. 50 – 300 years is a lie. Magnetic tape will last you 10 years before you have to recopy the data to a new tape. LTO4 has tape sizes of 800GB per tape, and is much cheaper than conventional disk drives per GB.dugg down for obvious reasons.
10.13.2009
I have CDs from about 15 years ago that still work fine. And a USB stick from at least 4 years ago that’s still good (only 128 MB but still useful for transferring documents between computers).
10.13.2009
Actually I have quite a few optical discs that are over 6 years old and still are readable
10.13.2009
i though holographic versatile disks was where the market was going i read somewhere that it could hold upto 6TB and holds 500 GB atm
10.13.2009
2-3 years if you buy cheap dics at walmart, and even then, that’s if you’re unlucky. there are more expensive discs that are manufactured to keep data well over a century.
10.13.2009
You should get it a lot cheaper if you pre-order on Amazon
10.13.2009
Same here.
10.13.2009
It is notable "as an indicator to where optical disc technology stands in the research laboratory".
10.13.2009
What’s the story on the HVD which is supposed to hold up to 6Tb or even 1Pb? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile … states that they’re still underway, but how are these going to merge with the current optical media options?Should we even be focusing on optical media or stay on the flash path? Personally, I like the idea of cds for "disposable" information or a cheap way to burn some data for someone.
10.13.2009
In my experience flash drives usually become flakey over the years where you have to wiggle them for them to show up and sometimes they spontaneously disappear from the computer.CDs are so cheap that if they become flakey I just throw them out.
10.13.2009
Optical media?!?! Pffft…where is the internal storage ala Johnny Mnemonic? Also, how much extra is a doubler?
10.13.2009
Big surprise, technology is evolving. Honestly if we rushed out a new product every time an advance was made there would be no standards and they would fail. Plus this 320GB disc, how many years would it take to perfect the technology and build the factories that can spit out millions of flawless discs, there is more to developing a technology than just inventing it in a lab setting.
10.13.2009
sorry, but for the price of a 128gig flash drive, you can only buy one bluray burner and 9 dual layer bluray discs. sure, that’s 450 gigs of space, but it’s once usable space. after you burn your nine disks, the cost of buying another surpasses the cost of the flash drive. for quasi-permanent storage, optical media is currently cheaper and the way to go, but flash drives simply have more utility and would be preferable for everything else.
10.13.2009
Those numbers assume the disk is burned, packaged, placed in a airtight locked box in an environmentally controlled room.
10.13.2009
It just means we’ll have to convert all our movies over to the newer, higher def format.DVD, BRD, holographic disk, neural interface, ??? …
10.13.2009
The keyword there is "going".
10.13.2009
@phrstbrnAll major medical facilities use optical jukebox systems in addition to off site storage. Google Library of Congress, NIST and shelf life if you would like to educate yourself and stop using Popular Mechanics as a source of information. Yes, I am in the biz and data storage of medical records is a VERY serious affair. As I have said, long data shelf life is a highly controversial subject and no one relies solely on a single medium without multiple tiers of redundancy. These numbers are very dependent on the quality of the medium and how it is stored (just like tape). As someone else said, I would not doubt that you would only get 2-3 years from a Walmart special. I carry around a few these disks just to demonstrate to others you get what you pay for. Unlike tapes, disks can easily be scanned periodically and data transferred if failure is likely. One of the biggest issues in the industry now is to getting the information off tapes and onto a more manageable system before they fail. Tape does has its place and works well for backing up a simple mom and pop server. Pleasse leave the real solutions to the big boys. Never the less, the posting was a reply to an optical vs flash comment.
10.13.2009
how much do we want to be this will be cheaper than bluray?
10.13.2009
how much do we want to BET this will be cheaper than bluray? BET dammit spelling fail.
10.13.2009
Without a price I don’t care about a new optical disc. It has to be at least cheaper than hard drives which means if it gets released today than I expect less than $20 a disc for read-writable (assuming the drive wouldn’t be expensive).I just don’t see optical disc being used as a future technology. By the time this gets released we will have movies on flash memory or downloads saved on even bigger hard drives.
10.13.2009
That’s likely a physical problem with the usb interface on the flash drive or perhaps the USB port on the computer. The flash memory itself is very reliable as long as the write cycles are not exceeded.
10.13.2009
It’s just as vaporware as holographic storage.Interestingly, at the launch of DVD, people on the ngs were talking about "HD-DVD" (not *the* HD-DVD(tm) per se, but just a high def version of DVD that was obviously coming because of HDTV’s launch).Obviously there *was* an HD-DVD (and Blu-ray) developed. But that’s because there was a specific market being developed — *still* being developed — with the advent of HDTV.These are general data storage formats. They face a larger hurdle because there’s a much more niche market: high capacity data storage. It’s not mass market. Not yet anyway. But even at these capacities, they aren’t great enough for enterprise-based backups. They need *terabytes* not *gigabytes*.I think those are the reasons they remain merely prototypes with no plans for deployment.Sony has demoed a 200GB Blu-ray. It would serve a similar purpose. It may have a better opportunity because it’s a mass-market format, and if they can make compatible writers at high capacity… consumers may buy them for backup capability (price being imperative). But it still won’t fill the multi-TB requirement of enterprise.-Pie
10.13.2009
I hate optical storage, lets put our resources towards increasing network bandwidth.
10.13.2009
@2Bnor2BYeah, only mom and pop servers use tape drives… Because every mom and pop uses tape to backup their 32+ disk SANs they have lying around…Do I use 40 tapes, or 1280 Blu-Ray disks….Please stick to your optical disks, and leave the real solutions to the "big boys". Thanks for playing.
10.13.2009
Would be great for backups, but not much point for movies unless you want loads of movies on one disc. I’m quite happy with DVD.
10.13.2009
Isn’t that why I bought it? To keep it forever?
10.13.2009
why would i want to resell my games or movies? if you buy a game without intention of keeping it, you’re a jackass. that’s what rentals are for.
10.13.2009
do cars still come with tape players?
10.13.2009
wow…cool!!!
10.13.2009
Sony probably paid them to say this so that it wouldn’t jeopardize their Blu-ray sales in fear of Blu-ray becoming soon obsolete.
10.13.2009
Blu-Ray movies are fine for now, but can we please move past optical media?
10.13.2009
This would be news if a 400Gig disc hadn’t been invented a year earlier. Burried.