Storage guaranteed for 100 years
Pioneer has recently launched the industry’s first “DM for Archive” labeled Blu-ray optical disc drive (ODD) to offer long-term storage. Pioneer also promises these Bd-R discs to last 100 years. Therefore, these drives promise much longer-term protection than traditional NAND memories, hard drives or optical discs.
Pioneer’s DM for Archive discs come in compliance with the JIS X6257 quality standard. This standard means that the drive offers 100 years of durability. In addition, Pioneer’s BDR-WX01DM Blu-ray recorder is the industry’s first optical disc drive to meet JIS X6257 requirements for disc quality and recording methods, thus bearing the DM for Archive mark. The drive connects to the host using the USB 3.0 Type-A port. Maximum write speeds are 12x for BD-R, 16x for DVD-R and 40x for CD-R media.
Prices are not very affordable
While these prices are high for the individual user, the costs are not intimidating given that both ODD and media are often used by government agencies and companies looking to store long-term data. However, DM for Archive discs need to be stored between 10°C and 25°C with 40 percent to 60 percent humidity.
Although BD-Rs, which are expected to last 100 years, represent a huge success, it remains to be seen whether someone will still manufacture optical disc drives and PCs that can still be connected to them 100 years from now.