Category: storage
GE Holo Discs
The non-digital to digital conversion of everything from routine paperwork to music and photographs places a tremendous burden on the development of storage technologies ability to satisfactorily house all this data. While the challenge exists to some extent for the consumer, it is even a bigger challenge for those institutions charged with the wholesale storage of large amounts of data. Corporate IT departments, ISPs, and other large data repositories are always looking for cheap reliable data storage for data archiving and delivery purposes.
Popular Science reports that General Electric has unveiled an optical storage technology that may help with large long term data storage. The new optical discs can hold 500 gigabytes of information, the equivalent of about 100 single layer DVDs or about 20 Blu-Ray discs. In previous optical technologies, data was housed etched on a single layer. The new technology uses holographic patterns in light sensitive plastic in what sounds like a precursor to a 3-dimensional storage matrix. Brian Lawrence, project leader for GE's Holographic Data Storage Program explains:
"In these previous three generations, plastic acts as an inert carrier for the data that sits in a thin layer of metal, while in our method the plastic becomes the storage medium itself."
This technology sounds superior to existing tape technology both in capacity and in durabilit. I'd image that commercial data operations and high storage demand consumers such as data consultants, modern musicians, and commercial photographers will be all over this technology as soon as it is released.
Posted: 05.01.2009Seagate Suing SSD Manufacturer
After reading ARS Technica’s story on Seagate going after US-based solid state drive (SSD) manufacturer STEC, I can’t really say I’m surprised.
Seagate is in the unenviable position of being a leader in the dying industry of hard disk storage. As costs come down and capacities increase, SSD will likely eventually kick magnetic and optical based storage to the curb at the notebook and desktop arenas and may even challenge traditional high-capacity storage solutions. Whats not to like, SSD doesnt have moving parts, runs cooler, and is faster.
Posted: 04.18.2008Intel SSD
While reading Ubergizmo's story about Intel's push into SSD devices, one thought entered my mind: this will be very good for the consumer. Seagate and Samsung SSD announcements were important, but Intel's entry into this field guarantees maximum value through improved technology and increased competition.
I'm excited about the future of SSD, and I'm convinced that Intel's jumping into the SSD fray will eventually result in the SSD benefits of speed, shock resistance, and stability at a decent price point for the public.
Posted: 04.02.2008Dependence on Physical Media
My 60-80 minute morning commute gives me an opportunity to think about things should I choose to do so. Most mornings, I don’t take advantage of that time to do anything but listen to NPR or Adam Corolla. This morning was different, I found myself free associating about a wooden CD rack my wife and I have been discussing. Even in the digital age, both my wife and I still buy CDs, and I started thinking about why that was. That initial train of thought led me to ponder the wisdom of retaining physical media when it’s (often) more convenient to convert and/or store the data differently. In about an hour, I came up with the following reasons that I retain to justify being a pack rat.
Software: Honestly, I don’t have any interest in retaining anything having to do with software except the software itself. Included software books and manuals for programs I use range from harmful to useless. I’m a big fan of keeping executable files (and CD media when absolutely necessary) but nothing else.
CDs: As previously mentioned, I have scores of CDs and I continue to buy them. Why? The main reason is the distaste of DRM. CDs are often not that much more expensive than digital music and digital files that I rip off of them are DRM-free and in the format of my choosing. Anytime I want to backup or move my music store (which is at about 35gb), its a simple move operation. I don’t need to jump through any hoops to authorize my music on a specific workstation. A secondary reason I keep CDs is that even with all the redundancy in my backup procedures, I’ve lost music files due to hardware failures. While a PITA, I can always re-rip music lost due to file loss, that music may not be recoverable if downloaded from online music sources.
DVDs: I haven’t begun the process of converting this to a digital only resource. The main reason is cost. With each DVD taking between 2-9gb of space, my wife and I’s collection would take 600gb-2.7tb of space. Then one needs to consider how such digital files are displayed. Devices do exist that can handle such files (iTunes/AppleTV for example), but without substantial investments in hardware, this isn’t realistic for me.
At least for now, I am comfortable with knowing that the CD rack purchase is justified even today.
Posted: 01.16.2008