Titanium Oxide For High-Density Optical Storage 172
Stoobalou and other readers sent along word of research out of Japan, using a new crystal form of titanium oxide for high-density data storage — promising discs that store 1,000 times more data than Blu-ray does today, up to 25 TB. The material transforms from a black-colored metal state that conducts electricity into a brown semiconductor when hit by light, at room temperature. Titanium oxide's market price is about one-hundredth that of the rare element that is currently used in rewritable Blu-ray discs and DVDs. The material is cheap and safe, and is already being used in many products ranging from face powder to white paint. The researchers successfully created the material in particles measuring as small as 5 nanometers in diameter.
Finally! (Score:3, Funny)
I have been waiting for affordable removable storage in the TB size range for many years now! There's a giant p0^H^H document library waiting on my NAS to be archived ...
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:3, Funny)
Just put into a light sealed box -- bit like a hard disk today.
Oh, that was too simple a solution? I am sure we can think of something more complicated.
Re:Won't see 1000x for a few years. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:3, Funny)
I admit having no idea about the answer to that very interesting question but the fact that the surface changes "when hit by light, at room temperature" makes me suspect it doesn't have much chance on that front.
I bet it would last at least as long as thermal fax paper.
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:3, Funny)
Titanium dioxide itself is ridiculously stable. It's what makes it so safe - we use it to whiten marshmallows for crying out loud.
Are you saying I could store my entire porn collection on marshmallows?
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't your porn collection sticky enough already?
Re:Won't see 1000x for a few years. (Score:3, Funny)
Better than 3D:
With the labor market, we could just hire people to come and act out the movie for us. Call it "RealLife-O-Vision".
I patented the idea, in case you're wondering.
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:4, Funny)
I'm off to buy some steel wool for my brain scrubbing, now.
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:5, Funny)
Are there any projections/estimates related to how stable this media would be when used for long-term archival storage?
If the state changes in light, then there are some rules to follow:
Re:Good for archival purposes? (Score:5, Funny)
We need a disk that can only be writen by divine intervention at Hell's main furnace, temperature.
That would be "The Matrix: Revolutions" special edition BluRay with extended director's apology voice track.
Re:Titanium Oxide is a CHEMTRAIL airborn dispersan (Score:3, Funny)
Obviously the government couldn't be behind it, but What about the Boy Sprouts or the Gnomes of Zurich?