Introducing the Holo-Disc

500 megabytes? I think you mean 500 gigabytes.

G.E. is kinda late in this game I think. Sony is all over the data storage, by improving their blu-ray technology, and they have a better audience because video game developers will be the first to utilize all that extra space.

Plus, I see the use of discs everywhere diminishing, with flash memory being so compact and writes so fast, they will soon replace discs completely I think.

Wow this technology moves fast - how long were regular dvd's around before being replaced? 10-15 years? The lives of these things are getting shorter and shorter.

GE is actually one of the leading companies in disc storage devices.

From the article you can read that they have been working on it for six years, and that is much longer than the i believe it was four, that sony spent on blu-ray.
And as great as blu-ray is, like you mentioned, its lifespan isnt the longest.

I look forward to the holo-discs, if we all live through 2012.

bdhoro87- Until flash memory can hold 500 gigs, the holo-disc will be on top for a while.

Recently, I think it was Samsung, released a 512 GB SSD, though it is really expensive, just like all the other SSDs out there.

Also, there is a 400 GB Blu-Ray disc, with a Terabyte one being developed. However, I can see holographic discs having much more room to grow, and that accompanied with they're longevity makes them intriguing.

this technology has been around for a while already. The discs I read about actually stor 1TB. They are still expensive because of the meticulous process of actually making the discs. Last I checked, the players were about $3000.

Why should we care about this? Already flash memory has reached 512GB sizes and they will soon exceed TB sizes. And they are already working on developing parallel SSD's so that they can take advantage of fast read/write cycles and basically creating RAID SSD's that will have higher byte densities than hologram DVD's and much faster data access. It's possible in a drive no larger than a standard notebook hard drive to have 10 terrabytes with 1000 mb/s access speeds using current flash technologies. It won't be long before the costs associated with RAID SSD's will be driven down exponentially such that hard drives and other technologies such as holograms and DVD's are a dying breed. Just rent a RAID SSD with Terrabytes of memory and carry it in your pocket with. So who cares about this?

People don't be ridiculous. We all know the storage capacity of today's media. A disc is always cheap and having the option of buying a stack of 50 of these holo-disc (25TB) for $30 is very good. Also discs are easier to use as promotional media and easier to be included within books.
You can talk all you want about your RAIDS and every possible media or media arrangement you have or you can imagine. A disc is always cheap and easy to produce. Is flat and handy.

Have fun waiting for its release and don't forget is GE, you should be proud this technology is developed here in the United States and not abroad.

Glad I didn't buy into the whole blu-ray thing. Blu-ray is a stop-gap technology if I ever saw one.

Who's being ridiculous? There simply won't be many people using these high capacity discs for anything, having to buy an expensive player for these discs instead of just buying a flash drive which is compatible with most existing computers for no extra cost is just so much more convenient. It sounds like it would be hard to make these holo-discs rewritable as well.
G.E. just took way too long to come out with this type of technology - like someone mentioned, they've been developing it for 6 years and blu-ray only took 4 years of development, and is still working on increasing storage capacity to over a TB. Faster development time is the advantage that allowed Sony to take over this market.

The fact is there's almost nobody who needs that much storage on a disc, and as storage space increases faster and faster it is going to be more difficult to produce a standardized product. You could say blu-ray is a stop-gap technology, but if you want to watch anything in HD, you're outta luck.

Does anybody actually use blu-ray for data storage? I haven't seen it - it gets used for HD movies and video games, and thats it because nobody has or needs a blu-ray writer.

G.E. = Fail

bdhoro87 - Stop being such a dingbat. This technology is being aimed at "medical and financial institutions", not your everyday PC user. The amount of data that a bank can produce in a day is truly astounding. That being said, I have racks of archive grade DVDs sitting around with pictures and movies I've accumulated over the years. It would be nice to compress that by a factor of 100... The other thing is that our current magnetic and SSD drives are vulnerable to EMP bursts and data corruption. This disc is so notable precisely because it is so immutable. Besides, the success of this disc technology could pave the way for true optical hard drives.

That's very true Freekin. Magnetic media is still mechanic media even tough it's in the terabytes business. SSD technology is fast and easy to use, but it degrades over time and usage. The Holo-Disc might not be a headline in three years from now, but, like a papyrus, it might help preserve our information through decades maybe centuries.
Something that is "burnt" into the plastic itself will live forever if the required care it's cared. Sorry bdhoro87, but you think about today, we think about our legacy for the future.

Maybe you guys are right but I still think this technology, the capacity of any storage media is just moving to fast at this point, where a TB disc is not even a big deal right now - how is it going to fair in the future? You really think in 2012 500 gigs is going to be significant?

Those are good points about the hologram disc not degrading and not being affected by external magnetic fields. Also, it is very true that the price of flash memory is taking a dive; you can tell by how Apple reduced the price of their newest ipod shuffles, but what it will really come down to is universality. Banks, hospitals, etc. have to be able to access their information from anywhere. I will never buy a hologram disc until my computer can read it and until I can buy a cheap HVD player. Flash memory currently would be the easiest thing to implement into anything because flash memory IS what makes up everything. Our phones, cameras, mp3 players, even our TV's can take and run on flash memory. In my opinion, the ideal set up would be to have compact portable flash memory that can fit in any electronic system that I own, and have a dock station where a back up of everything that I carry around on my flash memory will be stored on a type of hologram memory. They both have pros and cons, so this way you take advantage of the best from each storage device.

- Scott Thourson
(Mechanical Engineering Student)

bdhoro87- We're not talking about 2012. This is about right now, 2009, and 500 gigs IS an awful lot for one disc.

I seem to recall owning a pc with a 20 Meg hard drive. I also seem to recall that much of the thinking of the day was that a home user would never need anything larger than that. Hmmm.

If you build it they will come...