Stone cold crazy ? Rock of ages ? (new archive tech)

[Amusing Pseudonym]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218881/Start_up_to_release_stone_like_optical_disc_that_lasts_forever


' Start-up Millenniata and Hitachi-LG Data Storage plan to soon release a new optical disc and read/write player that will store movies, photos or any other data forever. The data can be accessed using any current DVD or Blu-ray player.

Millenniata CEO Scott Shumway would not disclose what material is used to produce the optical discs, referring to it only as a "natural" substance that is "stone-like."

Like DVDs and Blu-ray discs, the M-Disc platters are made up of multiple layers of material. But unlike the former, there is no reflective or die layer. Instead, during the recording process a laser "etches" pits onto the substrate material.

"Once the mark is made, it's permanent," Shumway said. "It can be read on any machine that can read a DVD. And it's backward compatible, so it doesn't require a special machine to read it - just a special machine to write it."

While Millenniata has partnered with Hitachi-LG Data Storage for the initial launch of an M-Disc read-write player in early October, Shumway said any DVD player maker will be able to produce M-Disc machines by simply upgrading their product's firmware. '



' Millenniata is also targeting the long-term data archive market, saying archivists will no longer have to worry about controlling the temperature or humidity of a storage room. "Data rot happens with any type of disc you have. Right now, the most permanent technology out there for storing information is a paper and pencil -- until now," Shumway said. '

[ExpendablesFan]

This seems like someone investing in floppy disks in the late nineties.

[Wolfe]

My big take-away from this article is that guy's last name is Shumway.

EDIT: Images don't show up on my work computer, but I see now on my iPhone that AP already had the ALF thing noted. Nuts.

[Amusing Pseudonym]

This seems like someone investing in floppy disks in the late nineties.

Really?   This concept gives me a mental boner.   I've often wished for a digital data backup format with durability and longevity comparable to that of carved stone tablets or even vinyl 78s.

[ExpendablesFan]

Really?   This concept gives me a mental boner.   I've often wished for a digital data backup format with durability and longevity comparable to that of carved stone tablets or even vinyl 78s.

You mean like Zip drives?

[Amusing Pseudonym]

A magnetic format??  Puh~lease.

[MattKelly]

Mr Spock would approve.  Stone knives and bearskins.

[Dobbin]

That is amazing, Amusing. People don't get that media needs to be copied/converted up in order to survive and that a lot of this stuff is going to go away forever because who will be copying it all?

[Amusing Pseudonym]

That is amazing, Amusing. People don't get that media needs to be copied/converted up in order to survive and that a lot of this stuff is going to go away forever because who will be copying it all?

And even if we do manage to pass the archivist nerd gene on to our children, each successive duplication has the potential to introduce data error.   

Perhaps someday a company that provides cloud-based data storage like Amazon will be considered "too big to fail" because it's the primary maintainer of the nation's collective media history.

[LpF]

Fuck the cloud.  Physical archives are the only way to go, because they have the best chance of surviving if all the networks get shut down.  I was thinking about this recently--we're going to need to continue employing archivists who do nothing but write shit down, because if some sort of cataclysm occurs that takes us out of the Information Age, we won't be able to access any of our collective knowledge.  Within one or two generations of that we'll be significantly closer to Idiocracy than you'd think.

[Dobbin]

Fuck the cloud.  Physical archives are the only way to go, because they have the best chance of surviving if all the networks get shut down.  I was thinking about this recently--we're going to need to continue employing archivists who do nothing but write shit down, because if some sort of cataclysm occurs that takes us out of the Information Age, we won't be able to access any of our collective knowledge.  Within one or two generations of that we'll be significantly closer to Idiocracy than you'd think.

I don't know if my desire for physical, non-grid-needing STUFF is outdated or wise. But what I write, I also print and file. I make photo books and archives that don't need a plug or battery, so my kids can have it. With DVDs, I have an extra small player that isn't used that I'm keeping in an archive box with home DVDs, so in 40 years or whatever, they stand a chance of being seen if the media is now like giant floppies.

[Amusing Pseudonym]

if some sort of cataclysm occurs that takes us out of the Information Age, we won't be able to access any of our collective knowledge.  Within one or two generations of that we'll be significantly closer to Idiocracy than you'd think.

Wheeee!

[ExpendablesFan]

Can we rename this the Old Farts in Tin Foil Hats thread?

[chrisb]