Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media

Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media

You know you are of a certain age if the acronym WORM immediately evokes CD-R in your brain. WORM stands for ‘Write Once Ready Many times’. In the early days of commercially available recordable CD media the drives were used as back-up devices competitive with 8mm DAT. Consumer systems lost the WORM name and became CD-R in around 1990, with the first rewritable CD-RW systems only introduced in 1997 and commercially viable in 1999!

Since then every sort of Flash memory storage has been rewritable to the point where it is hard to even think about a ‘write once’ architecture. Of course, there are inherent issues with such an insecure format – what if you want the information you are providing to remain exactly as originally captured for any variety of reasons?

Now Sandisk has developed a SD card format that supports WORM technology. According to their info page:

Using the SanDisk SD WORM card, law enforcement officers can create unalterable, permanent photographic records that serve as resources during investigations or as potential evidence during trials. Officers simply insert the card into an SD WORM-compatible digital camera and begin capturing images. Later, they can transfer the images to a computer while maintaining unchangeable originals on the WORM card – ensuring that the justice system has access to evidence of indisputable accuracy.

In an age when everything is suspect – singers rely on auto-tune rather than talent to hit the right note, models are routinely air-brushed in Photoshop, and on and on – the WORM SD technology provides a sense of irrefutable evidence. The initial use is for law enforcement, but with 100 years of life it is easy to see these being used for document storage and other semi-permanent media storage.

Source: MobilitySite

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About the Author

Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!

7 Comments on "Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media"

  1. andrew_lee | June 24, 2010 at 1:32 pm |

    I believe that WORM drives were write-once optical drives that were NOT compatible with CD-ROM’s.

  2. Yeah – the early ones were exactly that.

  3. Woah. RT: @GearDiarySite: Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media http://goo.gl/fb/G8ve4

  4. Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media http://bit.ly/cDJwAP via http://topicfire.com/Gadget

  5. RT @breakinggadgets: Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media http://bit.ly/cDJwAP via http://topicfire.com/Gadget

  6. Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media http://bit.ly/bIm6Jj

  7. FutureofNews Eqentia | June 24, 2010 at 9:14 pm |

    Sandisk Takes Us Back to the Future with WORM SD Media http://goo.gl/fb/Y0ZbZ

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