History (1996): World Record With 25GB on Single Platter

At the AIIM 96 trade show in Chicago, IL, at the end of March, Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY) announced the next-gen Digital Science ODW25 Optical Disk Drive platform utilizing 14-inch optical WORM disks with 25GB of capacity on both sides of a single platter.

This is the absolute record in capacity for a single disk, whether magnetic or optical. For the purpose of comparison, fourteen 5.25-inch magnetic platters are required on Seagate’s Elite 23 to store 23GB.

The new optical drive is compatible with all versions of Kodak’s 14-inch optical media. Like its predecessors, it uses phase-change technology, rare for WORM media.

The new drive contains 2 optical heads, one for each side of the platter. Average access time is 700ms, with sustained transfer rate of 2MB/s.

General availability is targeted for 1996.

Automated libraries adapted for this new support will store up to 134 media, for capacity of 3.35TB.

Previous capacity records were set by 12-inch WORM disks of 16GB by ATG Cygnet, followed by 15GB by Sony. Philips 12-inch media is at 12GB. Kodak’s previous 14-inch disk had capacity of 14.8GB.

During AIIM, Kodak also announced a 14-inch rewritable optical disk with 10GB capacity, but with magneto-optical technology.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue 99, published on April 1996.