Holographic media coming our way

InPhase has announced today that bulk shipping of its 300GB holographic storage disks have already begun. Each of these disks feature platters that measure 1.5mm thin and will retail for $180 a pop. While some of you are okay with that price, be prepared to take a loan from the bank to pick up the $18,000 Tapestry HDS-300R drive that is needed to read the holographic storage disks. InPhase has word that these drives will be expanded up to 1.6TB in size by the time 2010 rolls around. Unfortunately, the platters on these disks come with a mere 50 year lifespan and an access speed of 20Mbps, where in contrast, existing SATA drives have access speeds that are more than 7 times greater.