Taiwanese company Idar Electronics is said to be already mass producing DVD players based on next-generation forward versatile disc (FVD) standard. The red laser format was developed by a government agency called Opto-Electronics & Systems Laboratories (OES) in partnership with makers as an alternative to blue laser technologies Blu-ray and HD DVD. Though currently limited to Taiwan, the FVD format will be promoted during the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), to take place next January at Las Vegas. FVD disks have storage capacities of up to 11 GB (dual layer) and support WMV HD and IMAX content.
Newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Japanese firm Ricoh plans to release a 200 GB optical disk by 2008. Such a capacity would be achieved thanks to the presence of eight data layers instead of the usual two. Ricoh also intends to make it compatible with upcoming HD DVD and Blu-ray formats. These standards currently allow dual layer disks capable of holding up to 30 GB and 50 GB.
Maxell has partnered with startup InPhase Technologies to develop holographic media for optical storage. The technology is said to allow capacities of up to 1.6 TB per disk and data rates of 120 MB/s. In addition, according to the companies, it offers a lifespan of at least 50 years. Holographic recording technology utilizes intersecting signal and reference laser beams to store data in a number of 3D hologram images. The first generation of disks is scheduled for release in September 2006.
Panasonic (Matsushita) has developed a new chipset for drives capable of recording and playing Blu-ray and practically any other disc format except rival HD DVD. The two sides have been in a neverending battle to replace the current DVD standard. Earlier this year, Sanyo Electric announced a similar chip, which sported HD DVD support instead of Blu-ray. Panasonic’s chipset, to be offered in ATAPI and Serial ATA versions, will enter mass production in January.
Lacie will start shipping in December new portable hard drives with biometric as well as DES (56-bit) or Triple-DES (128-bit) hardware encryption. The SAFE Mobile HD with Encryption is a USB 2.0 bus-powered device supporting five user profiles and 10 fingerprints. It is based on 4,200 rpm or 5,400 rpm disks with 8 MB buffer. Suggested prices are USD 220 (40 GB), USD 270 (80 GB) and USD 400 (120 GB).
Iomega has released new Micro Mini portable HDs sporting drop shock technology. The devices, with 4 GB and 8 GB storage capacity, weigh less than 1.75 ounce (50 grams) and are about the size of a credit card, each containing a 4,200 rpm disk with 2 MB of cache. The HDs include a fold-away USB 2.0 connector and back-up software for Windows and Mac. Suggested prices are USD 130 (4 GB) and USD 170 (8 GB).
Maxtor has announced its new OneTouch III Turbo series with capacities of 600 GB and 1 TB. The drives contain two separate disks running at 7,200 rpm and integrating 16 MB of cache. Additional features include file synchronization capability; system restore from spyware and virus attacks; and DriveLock password protection. Suggested retail prices for the HDs are USD 550 (600 GB) and USD 900 (1 TB).
Maxtor has added the Serial ATA II interface to its MaXLine III (enterprise) and DiamondMax 10 (desktop) hard drives. The 7,200 rpm drives will begin shipping this quarter with up to 16 MB of buffer and a set of features including native command queuing (NCQ), staggered spin up, hot-plug capability and asynchronous signal recovery. The SATA II interface elevates maximum data transfer speed to 3 Gb/s.
Blu-ray-backers Dell and HP fired back at Microsoft and Intel, which earlier this week announced their commitment to HD DVD, in the race to replace current DVD discs. The computer makers said that the BD format offers more storage capacity, higher transfer rates and a series of additional features. The HD DVD side claims that its standard will be easier to adopt and provide a speedier transition. Blu-ray’s promotion group is led by Sony and Matsushita while HD DVD is supported by Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo.
Gigabyte has officially launched the i-RAM, a storage device sporting four DDR-DIMM sockets (supporting up to 4 GB of memory), which can be used to speed up 3D rendering, video editing and other applications. Any data kept in it is accessed at close to 1.5 Gb/s. The device, first unveiled at Computex 2005, employs a custom controller that allows the operating system to detect it as a regular Serial ATA drive. Power is provided through the PCI slot and a rechargeable battery allows the i-RAM to maintain the data for up to 15 hours when the system is shut down.
The DVD Forum has approved a new 30 GB dual-layer recordable HD DVD-R disc submitted by Toshiba. The company plans to complete a new version of it (2.0) until the end of the year and bring a compatible recorder to market by next spring. Toshiba is the main backer of HD DVD, which is still in the midst of a battle with Blu-ray to replace current DVD video disc format.
Samsung has added four new hard drives with increased capacity to its SpinPoint family. The P120 series includes 200 GB and 250 GB models with Serial ATA (with NCQ) and ATA-133 interfaces. All run at 7,200 rpm, with 8.9 ms average seek time, and sport an 8 MB cache buffer. The drives are equipped with NoiseGuard and SilentSeek technologies. The Serial ATA units sell for USD 150 and USD 170, respectively, while the ATA-133 are priced at USD 130 and USD 150.
Maxtor this week introduced three HDs sporting Shared Storage Plus hub capability. The drives allow consumers and small businesses to share and stream digital content to multiple devices on a network without routing through a PC. The new HDs, based on media management software from Mediabolic, are available in 200 GB (USD 300), 300 GB (USD 400) and 500 GB (USD 500) capacities. Owners of existing similar products can download the software for free.
Fujitsu has announced a 2.5-inch notebook hard drive with 160 GB of storage capacity based on traditional recording technology. The MHV2160BT, expected to hit the market by the end of the year, has advanced features such as Serial ATA II interface and Native Command Queuing (NCQ). The HD spins at 4,200 rpm. Seagate earlier this year said it would unveil a 160 GB mobile disk in the fourth quarter, but using perpendicular recording. Fujitsu itself announced plans to release a 200 GB notebook HD based on the same technology in early 2007.
Toshiba claims to be the first company to commercially release HDs based on perpendicular recording. The 1.8-inch MK4007GAL, now shipping in the manufacturer’s Gigabeat F41 MP3 player, packs 40 GB in a single platter. The new technology, which involves vertical alignment of data on the plane of the disk and therefore takes less room in comparison to the horizontal orientation of longitudinal recording, allows densities of up to 133 Gb per square inch. Toshiba plans to also use perpendicular technology in its 0.85-inch HDs starting in 2006.
