Recording using microholographics has created a 500 GB DVD disc. The Register reported researchers at the Technical University of Berlin created the fifty-layer disc in cooperation with other European savants, including those at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the Marche Polytechnic University.

Their project Web site defines their ultimate objective is a terabyte (1,024 GB) disc, not for video, but instead as a permanent archival medium.

Meanwhile, 2nd-Gen DVD formats (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) is a subject of European Commission fact-finding into how those are being marketed, and the possibility of monopolistic practices has been raised by critics.

However, CD-R with phthalocyanine dye is still found to be the most reliable archival medium, with doubts about long term DVD-R accuracy for archival dependability casting a pall over the whole backup-to-DVD-R concept.

Does your business back up to DVD-R now? How long do you think DVD-Rs will be accurate? Join the discussion.