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Familiar Looking Data Storage Device

myers70

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050608_hvc1.jpg


This is a Holographic Versatile Card, a new storage format supported by most major computer companies, including Apple Inc. and Sony. I thought it looked a bit familiar to a storage medium from TNG.

P359_9.jpg
 
It honestly looks like the only point of this device is to copy the Trek card! What's the point of this card for such an average storage capacity?
 
The main selling points are that the cards will only cost around $1 retail, and the data stored within the cards doesn't degrade over time. Also, the maximum expected capacity for an HVC is 6TB.
 
It honestly looks like the only point of this device is to copy the Trek card! What's the point of this card for such an average storage capacity?

The card presumably works by magnetic induction since there are no electrical connections visible. Does this mean the card is waterproof?

The 30GB capacity seems fine to me as an alternative portable storage to USB flash drives. The big negative is that few computers will have a HVC card reader built in, which greatly limits HVC's portability/usefulness.

This was the problem with iomega zip drives in the mid-late 1990s: A neat idea, and a useful capacity at that time, but poor uptake meant the cartridges weren't very portable, meaning there was little incentive to buy it.
 
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That is uncannily close to the TNG Moriarty-carrying card! That does sound intriguing. I would be interested in reading more about these in the future. *goes to find a tech news site*
 
The main selling points are that the cards will only cost around $1 retail, and the data stored within the cards doesn't degrade over time. Also, the maximum expected capacity for an HVC is 6TB.

Very well then. Carry on. :cool:
 
It looks like it has little micro-chips all over it, in rows.
I don't know.

Sector boundaries? I expect there has to be some way to allow calibration for thermal expansion and to correct the position of the read/write head.

I'll be interested when the capacity tops 1TB as long if the cards are no more than $20. However, I expect they won't be anything like that cheap until economy of scale kicks in.

When it reaches 50TB+, the format should be a more compact alternative to Blu-ray for read-only media.
 
Sadly, the Wikipedia article on this says it was due for release in 2007, and nothing had appeared by 2010. None of the sources cited in the article is later than 2005. The external link to the creator's website appears bust too, although it might just be my internet.
 
Yeah, it seems to be dead, as does the Digital Holographic Disc format. Pity. I guess the technology might reappear eventually when they've worked out the problems.
 
I don't really enjoy the circular tray based medias (compact disc, etc). Nor am I keen on the bulkiness of USB drives. While SD cards are too small and fiddly, and easy to misplace.

I'd prefer something palm sized, 2-3mm thin, rectangular, and slot based, reminiscent of floppy disks, but offering several gigabytes capacity.

If we wanted that to look similar to isolinear chips, we could easily have the internals of SD memory repackaged into something closer to the size of a credit card. If that were available, I would be interested in buying it.
 
I don't really enjoy the circular tray based medias (compact disc, etc). Nor am I keen on the bulkiness of USB drives. While SD cards are too small and fiddly, and easy to misplace.

I'd prefer something palm sized, 2-3mm thin, rectangular, and slot based, reminiscent of floppy disks, but offering several gigabytes capacity.

If we wanted that to look similar to isolinear chips, we could easily have the internals of SD memory repackaged into something closer to the size of a credit card. If that were available, I would be interested in buying it.

I assume by USB drive, you mean a USB magnetic media based drive, rather than just the flash memory kind. Because flash drives can be tiny, and the capacities are rising quickly, while the prices drop equally quick. Technologies such as this Trek disc are promising, but the reason they'll have difficulty finding a market is because of how well flash memory is doing right now.
 
I assume by USB drive, you mean a USB magnetic media based drive, rather than just the flash memory kind. Because flash drives can be tiny, and the capacities are rising quickly, while the prices drop equally quick.

I actually meant flash memory. I know those devices can be tiny, and they are great things. But if we're to look to the future, we have to be willing to criticize the present, so we can improve upon it. :)

So in that regard, I feel that the USB plug itself is an unpleasant thing to have protruding out of portable media. It's also notoriously fragile when plugged in: Accidently knock it, and you can snap the plug off.

I'd rather have a palm sized rectangular card, than a legobrick with plug. That is the future to me :)
 
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