Holographic Storage a Reality in 2006?

vitaly.friedman writes "What do you do when you're getting close to the limits of 2-dimensional optical technology? Well, how many dimensions do we have to work with?" From the Ars Technica article: "How much greater data density? In the Hitachi Maxell device, a single disc about 1 cm larger in diameter than a CD will buy you 300GB. By way of contrast, HD-DVD currently offers a maximum of 30GB on a 2-layer disc, and Blu-ray tops out at 50GB. Although upgrades are in the works that promise to increase the capacity of both of those formats, even the most pie-in-the-sky predictions fall short of what is planned for merely the first commercial generation of holographic storage. Future plans for that medium include boosting the capacity to 800GB in two years, and 1.6TB per disc by 2010."

Re:1 CM larger?

[Anonymous Coward]

The disc is thicker and might damage an ordinary cd/dvd drive if it is inserted by mistake. The larger diameter prevents this.

Re:I don't want a disc 1cm larger than a CD!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you read the article?

It says at the end that the consumer version they are looking at would most likely be the size of a postage stamp and have 75G to 100G of storage.

Re:Better late than never...

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember that, too. It was 1994 and they said it would be out in a couple years: http://www.byte.com/art/9403/sec6/art1.htm [byte.com]

Re:Hmm

[joecr]

Well for Cds, DVDs, HD-DVD, & Blue-Ray it is all about one single laser beam that doesn't get split.

With Holographic memory [wikipedia.org] it is a question of a beam being split then both beams being pointed to the same spot [wikipedia.org]. So to be Holographic memory you need the beam to be split then to hit the same point at different angles.

Re:1 CM larger?

[maxwell demon]

Ok, I've now googled around a bit and found this [philips.com]. Given that it is from a Philips server, it should be a reliable source. Seems what I've heared was not entirely correct, but also not entirely wrong either :-)

Re:A backup solution

[Tweekster]

Well CD-rs and DVD-r have upwards of 4-8 years and counting for life. Those people that claim 1-2 years, they are full of shit.

Sure if you leave it directly in the sun im sure it will degrade. If you put it in a case in a drawer, it will work just fine for atleast 5 years

Re:I don't want a disc 1cm larger than a CD!!!

[Sillygates]

Blu-ray is going to top out at 200GB, not 50GB link: http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/28/tdk-ok-were-don e-with-the-200gb-recordable-blu-ray/ [engadget.com]

and its the same size as a traditional CD :)

Re:1 CM larger?

[Izmunuti]

On Inphase's web site they have a PDF file with details on their media.

http://www.inphase-tech.com/products/professional/ download/DataSheet_MEDIA.pdf [inphase-tech.com]

You don't have to worry about inserting it into an ordinary CD/DVD drives because it's in a 135x153x11 mm cartridge. This is exactly the same dimensions of existing MO cartridges. I suppose one could cram one of their holo-cartridges into a MO drive or maybe if one had one of those ancient CD-ROMs that used a caddy...

I like this from the PDF: "Recording Format: Phase Conjugate Polytopic Holographic". Not sure what that means, exactly, but it sounds cool.

Iz

Re:Hmm

[Tyger]

Holography is about more than just using 3 dimensions of space to store something. It's specifically about a technique that involves generating an interference pattern between a coherent source of light split into two crossing beams. By that nature, it stores data in 3d. CD type optical storage is still a surface storage medium even with multiple layers. It just focuses the beam onto different surfaces.

Re:I don't want a disc 1cm larger than a CD!!!

[Fordiman]

9cm dia. disc with 400GB (assuming 1cm dia. spindle) = 400G / (63.61-0.79) cm^2 = 6.37G / cm^2

2.5cm dia. disc (assuming 0.5cm dia. spindle) = (4.91-0.2)cm^2*6.37(G/cm^2)=30.0027G

Damned good math there, man. Kudos.

And if I can get it in rewritable, all the better.

Re:A backup solution

[jabuzz]

I am not aware of any period of time in the last 20 years in which the capacity of at least one tape format has not exceeded the capacity of the largest hard drive on the market. Right now I have a Quantum DLT-S4 library at work, which is 800GB native capacity per tape. The largest hard drive I can buy is a 750GB Seagate.

Re:A backup solution

[NeMon'ess]

What media do you buy? It matters. I have Verbatim 650MB CD-Rs from 1999 and earlier that I just tested and are still good. I also have used Fry's "Great Quality" house brand discs that were so bad, the last 50MB or more were unreadable a few months later and so I didn't burn more than 600MB on them after I found that out. They're probably useless now except as coasters or inaccurate throwing projectiles. I use Taiyo Yuden DVD-Rs now and am completely satisfied. TY is considered the best media available.