optical storage Archives

Cloud Archiving Systems

Posted on February 19, 2017May 18, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Optical Jukebox Library in the Cloud

We define archival information storage as a mechanism for writing data that can’t be modified or erased, storing information for a very long time (over 50 years), and providing easy retrieval. Information archiving has evolved over the last century; from paper to microfilm, and then to optical discs in jukebox libraries.

Optical discs were introduced in the early 1980s. The Write Once Read Many (WORM) 12-inch discs, introduced by Sony and other companies, provided archiving media that allowed organizations to archive their paper information to optical storage.

CD-ROM discs were introduced by Philips and Sony in 1985. A couple of years later Sony introduced DVD-discs and Magneto-Optical discs. Jukeboxes or Libraries were designed to handle over 500 discs, creating a complete archiving storage system. Blu-ray discs were introduced by Sony in 2003, and became the archiving media standard.

The Difference Between Jukeboxes and CD/DVD Servers

Posted on March 11, 2016March 22, 2020 by Dennis Gallen

CD Servers, RAID, Optical Disc or Cloud Storage? That is the question
by Dennis Gallen

“What’s the difference between a jukebox and a CD/DVD Server?” That was the question we used to get. It was a time when CD-and DVD discs were a great way to archive data. Today the there are a number of different storage options available. We continue to get questions about the best way to store data. We are asked, “What is the difference between Cloud storage and optical disc storage? And, “What is the difference between tape and optical discs”?

How Blu-ray Optical Discs Work

Posted on March 1, 2016June 22, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

The technology for storing data continues to bring us ever-increasing capacity. First, there were CD-ROM discs, next the DVD-discs, which increased capacity and data transfer speed. Now we have blu-ray discs that provide 100 GB of storage. They are used in optical jukeboxes or libraries for archiving computer data

Blu-ray Discs (BD) was introduced by Sony in October 2000. Even though this new technology was developed for the consumer market, it also was capable of handling computer data. As a matter of fact, Blu-ray became the standard in both markets.

How to handle all the Information that needs to be Archived

Posted on February 29, 2016March 22, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Meeting the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

As I recall, the first optical discs became available in the fall of 1984. I was working for Sony at the time, and one of the engineers from Japan visited our office in New Jersey. “Bob”, he said, “Do you want to sell WORM in the US?” I looked at him kind of funny and said, “We don’t eat worms in this country”. “Oh no Bob-san, not worms, Write Once Read Many – W, O, R, M. This is optical disc”. This was my first introduction to optical storage. The technology has improved dramatically over the years and the market for the product has grown. Today optical disc systems are starting to replace tape libraries. The cost per megabyte is about the same, but optical storage is archival while tape is not.

There are many reasons to archive corporate and government information. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 defines regulations for saving information. Here is a summary of some of the reasons for using optical jukeboxes to meet these requirements: