14 DAY TRIAL // Blu-ray might be the optical storage media of the future, but that doesn't mean that the "old" DVD is dead. No, it is actually going through its best period yet, since discs and the associated hardware have just now reached a mainstream price/quality ratio. This is the reason why Lite-On (or better said, PLDS, their joint-venture with Philips involved in the optical storage market) has just announced some very interesting improvements to their line of DVD writers, namely the SecureDisc and SmartErase features.
Besides increasing the burning speeds to 22X, the new Lite-On DVD burners will benefit from several other interesting features, one of them being SecureDisc. This technology, which will be incorporated both in Lite-On hardware and the NERO software package, provides several data protection methods, each with its own level of security, which allows users to store and protect the data according to their level of confidentiality.
Beside SecureDisc, PLDS has also announced the development of a very innovative feature, dubbed SmartErase. By using this option, users will be able to erase the contents of their CD-R and DVD?R(DL) media for good, without actually disposing of the disc itself.
SmartErase works in a fairly simply manner. The disc burner writes a series of tiny, random characters over the original data, which renders the respective data unreadable by any other device. Once the disc has been erased using SmartErase, users won't have to worry about the security of their files and folders, as nobody will be able to read the confidential data stored onto the respective media. The only downside to this very interesting technology is the fact that it's not Blu-ray compatible, at least for the time being.
"SmartErase is an ideal solution for the companies and individuals who need to erase confidential data stored onto a write-once disc", declared Jelmer Veldman, PLDS Europe Marketing Manager, when talking about this very new and innovative technology. "Instead of destroying the disk, now you can overwrite the respective data, in a manner that renders the disk unreadable. After the disc has been completely erased, the data cannot be retrieved and this method is a lot more environmentally-friendly than the actual destruction of the disc - which releases various chemical substances that can harm the environment", he continued.
Lite-On also has some pretty interesting news related to its hardware products, since it seems that the company plans to release a BD-COMBO unit later on this year, as well as a slim external DVD-writer that will connect to a host computer via USB. However, we'll provide information related to these products as things unfold.
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