MFDigital CD DVD Information Library
Monday, March 15, 2010
 
Computer Storage Market Returns to Growth in 2010
After suffering a decline 2009, global revenue from shipments of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Optical Disk Drives (ODDs) used in computers is expected to grow in 2010 as PC shipments rise on the strength of the economic recovery, according to iSuppli Corp.

Worldwide revenue from shipments of HDDs used in computer applications is expected to amount to $27.7 billion in 2010, up 18.4 percent from $23.4 billion in 2009.Computer-oriented ODD revenue will increase to $14.8 billion in 2010, up 7.6 percent from $13.7 billion in 2009. In comparison, computer-oriented HDD revenue declined by 11.7 percent in 2009, while that of ODD decreased by 6.3 percent.

"The 2010 economic recovery will bring rising sales of PCs," said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at iSuppli. "The notebook sector is expected to be particularly strong, with shipments outgrowing those of desktops. This will drive the robust increase in HDD shipments."

Other factors contributing to the rise in demand in 2010 include new server purchases and the migration to 2.5-inch HDDs in data centers to achieve cost reductions. Furthermore, the adoption of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system by the enterprise business segment is helping to propel PC sales. Shipments also are continuing to rise for external drives used for the storage of gaming, music and movies.

iSuppli expects HDD revenue for computers in the first quarter of 2010 to decrease slightly to $6.6 billion, down from $6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, reflecting the normal seasonal slowdown. However, HDD revenue is set to recover to the fourth-quarter 2009 level by the second quarter of 2010.

The computer-oriented ODD market, on the other hand, won't recover to its fourth quarter of 2009 revenue level of $4.1 billion during any single quarter of 2010. However, the market will grow on an annual basis in 2010.

Furthermore, beginning in the fourth quarter, ODD revenue will gradually rise as demand increases for gaming, movies and high-quality sound systems.


Source: CDRinfo

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- posted by MF Digital Marketing @ 12:24 PM
Friday, November 27, 2009
 
New DVD Claims to Store Data For Centuries
While recordable DVDs are unreliable and unpredictable, often failing in as few as two years, a new 1,000 year DVD made of high tech, diamond-hard stone promises to preserve irreplaceable digital files for the ages. The Cranberry DiamonDisc was designed by a team of scientists to store digital photos, movies, music, documents, and ledgers for 1,000 years or more.

Unlike conventional recordable DVDs and CDs, the Cranberry DiamonDisc has no adhesive layers, dye layer or reflective layer to deteriorate - thereby avoiding the "data rot" that quickly corrodes all recordable DVDs. A high-intensity laser physically etches the information into the diamond-like surface of our synthetic stone disc. No other layer is needed. The transparent Cranberry DiamonDisc can withstand prolonged temperatures extending up to 176 degrees Fahrenheit as well as UV rays that would destroy conventional DVD disks, Cranberry claims.

Researchers at Millenniata (Cranberry got an exclusive license of the technology for the consumer market) have tested the Cranberry Disc using the ECMA379 temperature and humidity (85°C / 85% RH) testing (effects of temperature and relative humidity ) as a standard to develop the most rigorous testing possible. They have combined temperature and humidity (85°C / 85% RH) tests with exposure to the full spectrum of natural light. The Cranberry Disc is the only survivor after this rigorous testing, the company claims. "Considering the combination of the Cranberry Disc's test results and its rock-like data layer, it is reasonable to conclude that the Cranberry Disc has a greater longevity and durability than other competitors media claim a 300-year shelf life," the company said.

The data format is the same as any other DVD, meaning that the Cranberry DiamonDisc is fully backwards-compatible and can be read by any DVD player in any computer. Both the National Archives and the Library of Congress have alerted consumers that they shouldn't rely on home-burned DVDs to last much beyond two to five years. "Storage media such as compact discs and DVDs that were thought to last don't - they often fail within a few years," cautions the Library of Congress.

Source: CDRinfo

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- posted by MF Digital Marketing @ 2:52 PM
Monday, September 28, 2009
 
Taiwanese Companies to Jointly Produce Blu-ray Optical Pickup Units
With global supplies of Blu-ray optical pickup units running short worldwide, seven manufacturers of optical disc drives from Taiwan and Japan yesterday announced their plan to establish new lines for the production of Blu-ray optical pickup units in the Central Taiwan Science Park.

As it was reported today by the Taiwan Economic News, seven manufacturers of optical disc drives from Taiwan and Japan yesterday unveiled their plan to open 15 lines for Blu-ray optical pickup unit production in the Central Taiwan Science Park at a cost of NT$2.5 billion (US$75 million at US$1:NT$33).

The seven manufacturers include Forward Electronics Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), Genius Electronic Optical Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), Tera Autotech Corp., Inc. (Taiwan), Sunext Technology Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), and TDK-owned SAE Magnetic Ltd. (Japan).

According to the plan, the seven firms will set up the 15 production lines in three stages, with the first going from 2009 through 2011, the second ending in 2012 and the third ending in 2013. The production lines are designed to have maximum output of 18 million pickup heads a year. The plan is expected to help develop an industrial cluster comprising pickup-head, system-product, connector and mechanism-spindle sectors.

While the demand for optical pickup units (OPU) for the Blu-ray players rises, the production of OPU is currently short and Japan is the main source of such components, with Sanyo, Sony and Hitachi to be the biggest suppliers. However, the today's announcement could help Taiwan emerge as a world-manufacturing hub of Blu-ray optical disc players.

Source: CDRInfo

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- posted by MF Digital Marketing @ 10:53 AM
Friday, June 26, 2009
 
Australian Researchers to Create Next Generation optical Discs
Futuristic discs with a storage capacity 2,000 times that of current DVDs could be just around the corner, thanks to new research from Swinburne University of technology. Researchers from the university's Centre for Micro-Photonics have demonstrated how nanotechnology can enable the creation of 'five dimensional' discs with huge storage capacities.

The research, carried out by Mr Peter Zijlstra, Dr James Chon and Professor Min Gu was published today in the scientific journal Nature. The Nature article describes how the researchers were able to use nanoscopic particles to exponentially increase the amount of information contained on a single disc. "We were able to show how nanostructured material can be incorporated onto a disc in order to increase data capacity, without increasing the physical size of the disc," Gu said.

Discs currently have three spatial dimensions, but using nanoparticles the Swinburne researchers were able to introduce a spectral -- or colour -- dimension as well as a polarisation dimension. "These extra dimensions are the key to creating ultra-high capacity discs," Gu said. To create the 'colour dimension' the researchers inserted gold nanorods onto a disc's surface. Because nanoparticles react to light according to their shape, this allowed the researchers to record information in a range of different colour wavelengths on the same physical disc location.

This is a major improvement on current DVDs that are recorded in a single colour wavelength using a laser. The researchers were also able to introduce an extra dimension onto the disc using polarisation. When they projected light waves onto the disc, the direction of the electric field contained within them aligned with the gold nanorods. This allowed the researchers to record different layers of information at different angles.

"The polarisation can be rotated 360 degrees," Chon said. "So for example, we were able to record at zero degree polarisation. Then on top of that, we were able to record another layer of information at 90 degrees polarisation, without them interfering with each other." Some issues, such as the speed at which the discs can be written on, are yet to be resolved. However the researchers are confident the discs will be commercially available within 5 - 10 years. They have signed an agreement with Korea-based Samsung, one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers.

The discs are likely to have immediate applications in a range of fields. They would be valuable for storing extremely large medical files such as MRIs and could also provide a boon in the financial, military and security arenas. Last month, US technology giant General Electric said its researchers had developed a holographic disc which can store the equivalent of 100 standard DVDs.


Source: CDRinfo

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- posted by MF Digital Marketing @ 11:04 AM
Friday, March 20, 2009
 
Optical Storage Industry to Introduce Certification For the Longevity of DVD Recordable Media
CDs21 solutions, an association that promotes CDs and other optical storage media announced plans to contribute in the development of a longevity certification program of DVD +R and DVD-R media. The association, which was founded in 2001 and was organized to promote CDs (compact discs), announced that its plans to start a series of tests in DVD recordable discs available today and provide specific certifications to all those media that would successfully show a longevity and reliability of 30 years or more.

The tests, which will be performed by the NPO Archive Test Center in Japan in four different labs, are expected to start in the following three months. The testing procedure will be based on the ISO/IEC 10995, a global standard for optical media archive life testing for recordable and rewritable DVDs. ISO International approved the standard last year and it is the culmination of joint development efforts by OSTA and ECMA. It defines the standard procedures for media archive life testing and classification.

The standard specifies an accelerated aging test method for estimating the life expectancy for the retrievability of information stored on recordable or rewritable optical disks. The method includes specific measurements of the electrical signals on the discs (readability), during the various phases of the aging test.

CDs21 solutions has also proposed a certification for all those media that will prove to be reliable at least for 30 years. Today, the majority of DVD disc makers claim that their discs are reliable for more than 50 years.

The certification can be printed on the package of the DVD recordable discs. As a result, end-users will be able to select the media life expectancy best suited to their application requirements.

source: CDRFreaks

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- posted by MF Digital Marketing @ 11:07 AM