AfterDawn: News

TDK produces 200GB disc

Having announced just weeks ago that it was working on a 200GB Blu-ray disc, the TDK Corporation has managed to produce it. However, instead of the disc having 8 data layers (25GB each) which you would expect, it has 6 layers. To achieve this, TDK has come up with a way to increase the layer's data capacities to 33GB each (a rise of 32%). The original report on the production of the 200GB BD disc comes from Japanese-language site Techon (which is subscription only).

To report gave some details about how the 200GB disc has been produced. The recording medium used is "bismuth peroxide", which forms bubbles of air when heated sufficiently with a laser light. Since the reflection of the light from these bubbles is different than it's surrounding materials, it can be used to store digital information like CD and DVD pits do.



While it's terrific that a 200GB disc has been produced, this achievement is not without its problems. The density of the bubbles is different than that of a standard Blu-ray disc and there are several other technical issues, so whether or not Blu-ray hardware could even read these discs is unclear.

Source:
Reg Hardware

Written by: James Delahunty @ 1 May 2006 19:11

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• 24 comments

• joonbugg

  Cant wait to get a Blu-ray 200GB Dvd recorder. I know its probably years away, but one can dream. 200GB on one disc. That is unthinkable.

  1.5.2006 20:12 #1

• PirateDan

  And how much is this disc going to be??
  And why do I need to put that much data on a disc?
  And lastly with how cheap HDDs are right now why do I need this?

  1.5.2006 20:15 #2

• borhan9

  As much as i like the massive size. I will not get Blu ray media at all if its notgoing to be multi compatible there is no use for them.

  1.5.2006 20:17 #3

• hot_ice

  200GB is impressive!!!
  
  However, the price will be around 1 dollar a gig which comes up to 200$ I would speculate.
  
  

  1.5.2006 21:58 #4

• nonoitall

  It would be so nice to be able to back up my hard drives with only three discs...

  1.5.2006 23:01 #5

• alanisgoo

  (Man spends hours burning a 200 GB DVD Data disc with 45 DVD ISO files to play on his modded XBOX 360)
  (Man accidentally drops disc on floor)
  (Toenail gives disc a major scratch, disc not readable)
  
  (Man spends hours burning down house, family inside)

  2.5.2006 07:42 #6

• tin23uk

  crc error ever seen a grown man cry?

  2.5.2006 08:35 #7

• domie

  alanisgoo: hopefully, man is not stupid enough to produce just one back-up and has the unlimited intelligence to make 4 or 5 copies in case of accidents

  2.5.2006 16:21 #8

• showmethe

  200 gb that sucks sadly
  
  y not just carry a portable drive around
  
  200 gb disk will brake and there goes life times money

  2.5.2006 17:26 #9

• plutonash

  Yeah you could make four or 5 back-ups but at the current price of 1 a gig thats 800-1000 dollars. Even if the price was reduced to lets say 20 dollars for a Disc (long time bc HDD are even close to being that price) you would have to spend around 80 to 100 bucks. HDD will always be better alternative to back-up data. Not to mention that these disc wont be read or writing on any of the current or soon to be relased BD players because they rushed the technology out the door kinda like how old DVD players have a hard time reading burnt DL disk now. Totally useless Technology, by one of the worst manufacters of DVDs

  2.5.2006 22:57 #10

• Chris1000

  (Man spends hours burning a 200 GB DVD Data disc with 45 DVD ISO files to play on his modded XBOX 360)
  (Man accidentally drops disc on floor)
  (Toenail gives disc a major scratch, disc not readable)
  
  (Man spends hours burning down house, family inside)
  
  Man, I hate to be an ass, but I could JUST see this happening to someone/somewhere!
  

  3.5.2006 10:55 #11

• Rikoshay

  Meh. What most of you are missing here is the increadible acceleration of technology today. It took CD-R's to be less than a dollar about 5-8 years, and DVD+/-R's took about a third of that time. It shouldn't take more than a year or two before the technology becomes so used and built upon that 200GB discs will be 10 bucks or less. HDD's are becomming low in price because they're near the end of their usefulness, and although I still like them over CD's and DVD's, and that I own a 300GB external, a 200GB disc would save a whole lot more space in a lot less area of mass. Either that or wait for HVD Recorders to go down to 100 bucks in a decade.

  3.5.2006 11:05 #12

• pb123

  a 200gb disc??? man in about 5years i bet you'll have usb's that can hold that much!

  3.5.2006 11:25 #13

• pb123

  or those memory stix for psp's and cameras.

  3.5.2006 11:29 #14

• borhan9

  I think because the disc is soo big in capacity not only is it going to be stressful not to get it damaged, it should b automatically re-writable because im not goin to sit there hour on end to store everything on my hdd first and then put it on the disc and whait about 50yrs for it to complete the burn.
  
  I think they will bring it out sooner or later but its probablly gonna cost an arm and a leg.

  3.5.2006 13:58 #15

• neo1000

  So, Blu-ray players are not on the streets and they`re talking about incompability already? mmmm....

  3.5.2006 18:48 #16

• webwise

  I think both HDD and Blue Ray will survive. HDD is going to be affordable to us hobbyists so we will use it (And do we need to back up 200 gb at one go?).
  
  Blue Ray will sell to corporate users (at about $1 a gig). No problem.
  
  Hey mods. Can I get my newsletter before it is 2 days old? And I love being a Newbie after 30 years in the biz at the age of 60. Want any advice. LOL.

  4.5.2006 07:41 #17

• deano915

  you guys need to think about it, a few years ago we were using 1.44Mb folppies for backup, now we are using 4.7Gb or 8.5Gb DVD's, 200 GB will not be hard to fill. Stop complaining, it is just the next step for a series of steps we have already done. No one predictred that we would use a HDD as big as we do now, seriously, think before you post

  4.5.2006 09:57 #18

• webwise

  Right on Deano. I forgot to add that by the time we need it Blu Ray will have dropped in price so us hobbyists can use it. In the meantime HDD will serve me. I can afford it.

  4.5.2006 10:09 #19

• rainofire

  i know this is kind of stupid but wut if their able to put the same thing into the psp umds n make it have more memory, if the figured out a way to increase the memory of a blue ray then they may be able to increase the memory of a umd someday. or wut if they make a blueray umd n all u need is an update to read the blue ray format. (this may be a stupid question to some or many.)

  5.5.2006 00:06 #20

• Jowitt

  With capacities like these the next step should be to reduce the disk diameter to the size of a Sony minidisc with an outer protective casing.

  5.5.2006 06:09 #21

• bseeds

  Compatibility? Cost? Who cares?
  Buy new hardware for God's sake.
  Imagine the quality of programming and video you can fit on a 200GB disc.
  3D???

  6.5.2006 05:20 #22

• showmethe

  y not carry a portable drive that does the same thing that the cd can do

  6.5.2006 18:54 #23

• hot_ice

  200 gb is honestly a positive breakthrough no matter how you put a spin on the issue. Listen, if you buy a disc of this capability, no matter what the cost, then assumably, you not only have the financial ability to purchase this item and replace it if an unfortunate accident occurs.
  
  Its great to see progress!

  6.5.2006 19:46 #24