Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc

The Stacked Volumetric Optical Disc (or SVOD) is an optical disc format developed by Hitachi Maxell, which uses an array of wafer-thin optical discs to allow data storage. Each "layer" (a thin polycarbonate disc) holds around 9.4 GB of information, and the wafers are stacked in layers of 20, 25, 100, or more, giving a substantially larger overall data capacity; for example, 100× cartridges could hold 940 GB using the system as announced. Hitachi Maxell announced the creation of the SVOD standard in 2006, intending to launch it the next year. Aimed primarily at commercial users, the target price was ¥40,000 for a cartridge of 100 thin discs, with the potential to expand into the home user market. When they announced the system, Hitachi Maxell publicly recognized the possibility that the system could be eventually modified for use with a blue-violet laser, similar to Blu-ray discs, which could have expanded the capacity of the system...