300 DVD's on One Disk - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Glory's Sun · 05-21-2009, 06:15 AM

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | How to fit 300 DVDs on one disc

Quote:

A new optical recording method could pave the way for data discs with 300 times the storage capacity of standard DVDs, Nature journal reports.

The researchers say this could see a whopping 1.6 terabytes of information fit on a DVD-sized disc.

They describe their method as "five-dimensional" optical recording and say it could be commercialised.

The technique employs nanometre-scale particles of gold as a recording medium.

Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have exploited the particular properties of these gold "nano-rods" by manipulating the light pointed at them.

The team members described what they did as adding three "dimensions" to the two spatial dimensions that DVD and CD discs already have.

They say they were able to introduce a spectral - or colour - dimension and a polarisation dimension, as well as recording information in 10 layers of the nano-rod films, adding a third spatial dimension.

The scientists used the nanoparticles to record information in a range of different colour wavelengths on the same physical disc location. This is a major improvement over traditional DVDs, which are recorded in a single colour wavelength with a laser.

Also, the amount of incoming laser light absorbed by the nanoparticles depends on its polarisation. This allowed the researchers to record different layers of information at different angles.

The researchers thus refer to the approach as 5-D recording. Previous research has demonstrated recording techniques based on colour or polarisation, but this is the first work that shows the integration of both.

As a result, the scientists say they have achieved unprecedented data density.

Their approach used 10-layer stacks composed of thin glass plates as the recording medium. If scaled up to a DVD-sized disk, the team would be able to record 1.6 terabytes - that is, 1,600 gigabytes - or over 300 times the quantity stored on a standard DVD.

Significant improvements could be made by thinning the spacer layers and using more than two polarisation angles - pushing the limits to 10 terabytes per disc and beyond, the researchers say.

Bit by bit

Recent efforts based on holography have shown that up to 500 Gb could potentially be stored on standard DVD-sized disks.

Holographic methods take all of the information to be recorded and encode it in the form of a graph showing how often certain frequencies arise in it.

That means that the recording process is a complex, all-at-once, all-or-nothing approach that would be difficult to implement on an industrial scale.

By contrast, 5-D recording is "bit-by-bit", like current CD and DVD writing processes in that each piece of information is read sequentially.

That is likely to mean that recording and read speeds would be comparatively slow, but the approach would be easier to integrate with existing technology.

"The optical system to record and read 5-D is very similar to the current DVD system," says James Chon, a co-author on the research.

"Therefore, industrial scale production of the compact system is possible."
DVD surface
DVD surfaces now are "2-D": just the position on the disc matters

Now that the method has been demonstrated in custom-made multi-layer stacks, the team is working in conjunction with Samsung to develop a drive that can record and read onto a DVD-sized disc.

Dr Chon says that the material cost of a disc would be less than $0.05 (£0.03), but there are a number of advantages in moving to silver nano-rods that would bring that cost down by a factor of 100.

For optical data storage expert Tom Milster, at the University of Arizona, the beauty of the approach is in its simplicity.

"It's not just elegant - there are a lot of experiments that are elegant - it's relatively straightforward," he told BBC News.

For the moment, Dr Milster says, the equipment needed to write the data would make a commercial system expensive. However, that has not stopped the development of optical storage solutions in the past.

"For example, a Blu-ray player is not an easy system to realise; they've got some wonderful optics in there," Dr Milster said. "People thought that would be pretty difficult to do, but others managed to do it."

5-d DVD.jpg

damn. This would be awesome in places where I work, we could not only put all tape and media on media servers but transfer tons of tape to one disk. I can also imagine this would help in other areas of media such as gaming and higher quality images from video once the other components catch up. Imagine being able to put native 4k footage on a disk.. that would be awesome.

genuinegirly · 05-21-2009, 06:39 AM

Er. Ack. Wow. ummm... yeah. I just can't get my mind around this much information on one little disk. Then again, DVDs were pretty exciting to me when they first came out as well.

Runningwater · 05-21-2009, 08:25 AM

If this technology comes to the public this little Indian will be a happy camper. I have a ton of DVD's and would love to be able to back them all up on 1 or 2 discs. They're all on a media center atm, but being able to back them all up on a single disc would be amazing.

Blue-ray is very cool as it hold what , 20-30gigs of data; but they fill that up pretty quickly with the HD format and all the interactive menus and stuff...

If this technology went mainstream...how would fill all that space up?!

Though in about 20 years we'll be laughing at it just like we laugh at Vinyl records now.

Fotzlid · 05-21-2009, 11:35 AM

That would be fantastic. I would only need 3 of them for my collection.
They'd probably cost $300 each plus $2-3k for the player though.

Willravel · 05-21-2009, 11:44 AM

I'm absolutely shocked that discs are still in use. 3 years ago, I was certain that solid state was going to replace disc media, but now I'm concerned that we're stuck in old technology. Back in 2008, Gizmodo released an article about a 1.6TB SSD. Sure, it's expensive now, but in a few years that technology is going to be dirt cheap. This super data disc is fascinating, but wouldn't it be better to simply have flash drives?

Runningwater · 05-21-2009, 11:54 AM

I think it would be a lot easier to do this as well...only thing i see being a pain is storage of the flash drive...if you have a hundred of it'd be a huge pile. I'm assuming 1 drive per movie/game/application. DVD's/CD's are handy in media b/c they're thin and don't take up much space. Though I am thinking within the box - I'm sure there would be other ways.

Willravel · 05-21-2009, 12:01 PM

With five or six 1.6TB drives... well there are only so many songs, movies, and applications in existence. Eventually you'll find yourself trying to download old episodes of Knight Rider in 1080p just to see if you can fill them all up.

Glory's Sun · 05-21-2009, 12:15 PM

eh I fill up a terrabyte drive in less than a week.

Willravel · 05-21-2009, 12:37 PM

Porn?

Glory's Sun · 05-21-2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willravel

Porn?

ha no.

tape captures, sequence renders, partial renders graphic files, raw camera data that is up to 4k (which is much higher than even 1080i) that sort of stuff.

we sit on about 80TB's right now and expanding.

05-21-2009, 06:39 AM	#2 (permalink)
genuinegirly Eat your vegetables Super Moderator Location: Arabidopsis-ville	Er. Ack. Wow. ummm... yeah. I just can't get my mind around this much information on one little disk. Then again, DVDs were pretty exciting to me when they first came out as well. __________________ "Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq "violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

05-21-2009, 08:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
Runningwater Tilted Location: North Carolina	If this technology comes to the public this little Indian will be a happy camper. I have a ton of DVD's and would love to be able to back them all up on 1 or 2 discs. They're all on a media center atm, but being able to back them all up on a single disc would be amazing. Blue-ray is very cool as it hold what , 20-30gigs of data; but they fill that up pretty quickly with the HD format and all the interactive menus and stuff... If this technology went mainstream...how would fill all that space up?! Though in about 20 years we'll be laughing at it just like we laugh at Vinyl records now. Last edited by Runningwater; 05-21-2009 at 08:28 AM..

05-21-2009, 11:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
Fotzlid Junkie Location: Greater Boston area	That would be fantastic. I would only need 3 of them for my collection. They'd probably cost $300 each plus $2-3k for the player though.

05-21-2009, 11:44 AM	#5 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	I'm absolutely shocked that discs are still in use. 3 years ago, I was certain that solid state was going to replace disc media, but now I'm concerned that we're stuck in old technology. Back in 2008, Gizmodo released an article about a 1.6TB SSD. Sure, it's expensive now, but in a few years that technology is going to be dirt cheap. This super data disc is fascinating, but wouldn't it be better to simply have flash drives?

05-21-2009, 11:54 AM	#6 (permalink)
Runningwater Tilted Location: North Carolina	I think it would be a lot easier to do this as well...only thing i see being a pain is storage of the flash drive...if you have a hundred of it'd be a huge pile. I'm assuming 1 drive per movie/game/application. DVD's/CD's are handy in media b/c they're thin and don't take up much space. Though I am thinking within the box - I'm sure there would be other ways.

05-21-2009, 12:01 PM	#7 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	With five or six 1.6TB drives... well there are only so many songs, movies, and applications in existence. Eventually you'll find yourself trying to download old episodes of Knight Rider in 1080p just to see if you can fill them all up.

05-21-2009, 12:15 PM	#8 (permalink)
Glory's Sun Registered User	eh I fill up a terrabyte drive in less than a week.

05-21-2009, 12:37 PM	#9 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Porn?