New M-Disc Technology Promises Permanent Data Retention
They’re called M-Discs and they’re being brought to market a start-up company called Millenniata, Computerworld reports. M-Discs ditch the traditional reflective layer found in standard physical media discs and instead etch the information directly into the body of the multi-layered disc itself, which is made of an undisclosed stone-like substance. Millenniata says that any device that can read a DVD can read an M-Disc – the only special equipment necessary in the whole process is an M-Disc burner.
That’s cool in and of itself, but Millenniata also claims that M-Discs are darned near impervious to damage. They told Computerworld you can toss an M-Disc in liquid nitrogen, then dump boiling water all over it, and nary a byte of data will be damaged. A DoD study found no data loss after subjecting the M-Disc to grueling conditions — a claim no other disc can make.
Although LG’s supplying the initial round of M-Disc burners, Millenniata’s CEO says that any DVD hardware manufacturer can make the jump to M-Disc by installing a firmware upgrade on their machines. The M-Disc’s staying power comes at the cost of burn speed, however; you can only write to them at a 4x rate. At that speed, it’s almost a good thing that M-Discs will only be able to match standard DVD capacities of 4.7GB when they hit the shelves in October for $3 a pop. Millenniata puts their money where their mouth is by offering a lifetime warranty for the discs.
Image credit: troveas.com
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It would be nice if Millenniata made something that holds more than a DVD worth of information. Maybe they are just shelving the Blu-ray quality drive until everyone buys one of the first drives :wink: