Holographic breakthrough crams in 0.5TB per square inch

vnunet.com ^ | 27 March 2006 | Robert Jaques

[ShadowAce]

InPhase Technologies claims to have broken the record for the highest data density of any commercial storage technology after successfully recording 515Gb of data per square inch.

Holographic storage can dramatically boost capacity as it takes advantage of volumetric efficiencies rather than recording only on the surface of the material.

Densities in holography are achieved by different factors to magnetic storage. Density depends on the number of pixels/bits in a page of data, the number of pages stored in a particular volumetric location, the dynamic range of the recording material, the thickness of the material, and the wavelength of the recording laser.

In this demonstration there were over 1.3 million bits per data page, and 320 data pages spaced 0.067 degrees apart were stored in the same volume of material.

A collection of data pages is referred to as a 'book', and InPhase's PolyTopic recording architecture enables more holograms to be stored in the same volume of material by overlapping not only pages, but books.

Three tracks of overlapping books were written with a track pitch of 700 microns. The InPhase Tapestry material was 1.5mm thick, and the laser wavelength was 407 nanometres.

"IT professionals are experiencing enormous growth in their data archives," said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director for removable storage at IDC.

"InPhase Technologies' announcement is an important milestone in storage density, demonstrating the impressive capacity increases enabled by holographic storage. The technology represents a potential alternative to incumbent technologies for archival storage requirements."

InPhase promised to begin shipping the first holographic drive and media later this year.

The first generation drive has a capacity of 300GB on a single disk with a 20Mbps transfer rate. The first product will be followed by a family ranging from 800GB to 1.6TB capacity.

"The latest results from our ongoing tests on holographic data density have surpassed expectations," said Kevin Curtis, chief technology officer at InPhase.

"We are particularly pleased at the rate of improvement. In April 2005 we demonstrated 200 Gb/in data density and a year later the density has increased more than 2.5 times."

[ShadowAce]

[Revolting cat!]

Oh no, can we keep it a secret from Microsoft?!

[Red Badger]

When will it be in the iPod?..........Store every song ever written from Gregorian chants to Hip-Hop .........

[opinionator]

Is there an attachment for the base of my skull?

[ShadowAce]

Oh no, can we keep it a secret from Microsoft?!

What are you talking about? Vista was delayed so that this technology can reach the market first.

[antiRepublicrat]

The first generation drive has a capacity of 300GB on a single disk with a 20Mbps transfer rate.

Less than 1/20th the transfer rate of USB 2. Not too quick, but could be useful for archival storage.

[My2Cents]

The 21st Century equivalent of seeing how many people you can cram into a phone booth.

[CygnusXI]

Holo-deck?

If no, then Meh!
:p

[ThinkDifferent]

That's just amazing. Multiple terabytes in the space of an iPod. Another point for Moore and Kurzweil.

[InterceptPoint]

The first generation drive has a capacity of 300GB on a single disk with a 20Mbps transfer rate. The first product will be followed by a family ranging from 800GB to 1.6TB capacity.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Perfect for HD archiving and streaming.

Now all we need is to see the price of the 300 GB disks at a reasonable price, say $25 each, and a drive for $200 and we are in business. Bye-bye Blu-Ray. Bye-bye HD-DVD.

[ShadowAce]

Not too quick, but could be useful for archival storage.

Yeah--I was just thinking about the mini-DVDRW discs I saw at Wal-Mart the other day. The same size as a MiniCD, but it holds 1.4GB. Now if you put this technology into a disk that dize, it would be super cool.

[GSlob]

Since they are writing in the volume, and not on the surface, they needed to record data density per cubic inch.

[kaktuskid]

Holographic storage can dramatically boost capacity as it takes advantage of volumetric efficiencies rather than recording only on the surface of the material.

A. Rimmer is greatly pleased

[Ben Mugged]

I'll still run out of hard drive space in 6 months.

[TexasCajun]

I can store every episode of Star Trek on my phone? Woo-Hoo!

[Petronski]

A fistful of these babies could even hold the Vista source code!

[B4Ranch]

"Not too quick, but could be useful for archival storage."

This is just what Uncle Sam is looking for. A nice slow system that won't stress federal workers and it is capable of storing every move the citizens made in their lifetime.

TO:National ID Card Holder CVFRU 7465 2093 3124 9842

In 1951 you bought a Remington .22 single shot rifle. You are hereby required to register that weapon within 24 hours or you will be assessed a $500 fine.

This fine will recur annually or until the weapon is surrendered to the local authorities. This money will be deducted from your employment check and deposited in the United Nations World Firearm Registry Program.

[adorno]

When will it be in the iPod?..........Store every song ever written from Gregorian chants to Hip-Hop .........

And, how long do you think it would take you to listen to everything stored on that IPod?

[Red Badger]

If I were Data, I could listen to them all simultaneously!.......