Regular readers of my articles know I have no love lost for optical disc media. It’s a decidedly old technology that’s been around since the mid-1970s and has gone through several generations (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.). In my experience burned discs have an average life span of 5 years or less. Yes, I have in fact had discs last beyond 10 years, but the ones that did are far fewer in number compared to the ones that didn’t.
In other words, optical media for the most part just plain sucks for a long term data storage solution.
Or does it?
There’s a new breed of optical disc coming soon called M-Disc; it is basically a ridiculously high-quality optical disc, made with extra super-resistant materials that, according to the company that makes it, will last "forever".
This claim is substantiated by the fact the disc is capable of allowing permanent engraving which they explain here.
Typical to super-high-quality media formats, it will take longer to write data to the disc to ensure proper file writing – but the nice part is that it’s backward compatible and can be read in any standard optical disc drive.
The way in which the disc will be sold is on a per-disc basis, meaning one sold at a time. Will it be expensive? Not really. Each disc should be under 5 dollars. Compared to the price of normal DVD or Blu-ray media, yes that is ridiculously expensive, but considering how long it lasts, it’s worth the price.
Will you need a special optical drive to burn these things? Yes. While the discs can be read in any standard drive, a special one will be needed to write data to them.
Can you buy this technology and use it now?
No. Millenniata, the company who plans to make all this stuff in cooperation with other large hardware OEMs (like LG) is currently hashing out the details of where and more importantly when you can buy this stuff.
You can pre-order however, if interested.
Who would benefit the most from this technology?
Admittedly, this technology is not for everyone, but it is for anyone that has a genuine interest in cheap long-term data storage solutions that don’t require tape (which is the only other alternative).
Let me make something perfectly clear: Data archiving is not "cool" and never has been.
It is true there are several brand new computers made (e.g. netbooks and a few models by Apple) that have no optical drive whatsoever. That’s fine, because this technology is not for those who run ‘cute’ or ‘cool’ computers.
This tech is meant for people that want a 100% pro storage solution that doesn’t cost thousands of dollars just to get. M-Disc, for all intents and purposes, is introducing true enterprise-grade optical media to the market.
I sincerely hope they do well, because anything’s better than what we have now.
(If you said, "There’s an alternative! Cloud!" Wrong; go boil your bottom, son of a silly person. Local media is always the best for backup solutions.)
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