Holographic-memory discs launched next year A FIRM which makes a disc that can hold 60 times more data than a DVD said it is ready to release the product next year. InPhase Technologies, based in Colorado, has developed a commercially viable version of a holographic disc which can hold 300 gigabytes of data and can be used to read and write data 10 times faster than a normal DVD. InPhase Technologies spokesperson Liz Murphy said that unlike other technologies that record one data bit at a time, holography allows a million bits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash of light. This enables transfer rates significantly higher than current optical storage device. The discs, are 13 centimetres across and a little wider than normal DVDs. They store data in a light-sensitive crystal material using the interference of laser light. A single light beam is split and passed through a semi-transparent material. This acts like a filter, changing different parts of the beam to encode bits of information. The altered beam and the reference beam are then recombined in the light-sensitive material and their pattern of interference provides a record of the encoded information. More in the New Scientist, here
Ah, it's a shame it's bigger than the discs we have now. Would be better if it was the same size, like we have CD's and DVD's the same size, or same size as the mini disc, because to be honest, why would you want to hold 300 GB of data on one of these things? The average person would only need maybe at most 10mb to move around files! I still use floppy discs!
Darn. I was really liking my CDs and DVDs, too... Now I have to wait for a revision of the PowerBook with one of these drives. I'll be waiting forever, especially if it takes as long as it did for them to get a dual-layer SuperDrive in there.
Hmmm, my guess is that this disk will shrink in size. 13 cm is pretty smegging wide and will be dang hard to fit in current drive slots in computers. Most consumers are going to be hard-pressed to want their desktop to get larger.
I don't think that they'll ever become totally obsolete. People still play vinyl records these days, after all! and CDs *were* meant to totally replace casettes etc etc. So, nothing really to worry about
