NitroAV announced on Wednesday the release of its AfterBurner series of FireWire 800 disc burners, which use Sony drive mechanisms that employ blue lasers that can write up to 23GB on a ProData optical disc. The AfterBurner series includes a two-bay configuration, as well as an internal ultra-wide 5.25-inch 160 SCSI version and an external USB 2.0/SCSI model, and features 11MB per second and 9MB per second read and write speeds, respectively, a 16MB cache that improves speed and lowers the number of errors and a narrower pitch track for higher recording density.
ProData discs are the same size as a DVD but have a thin recording layer that is five times denser than the one found on a DVD, with an estimated lifespan of 50 years and the ability to rewrite data over 10,000 times. They’re housed in hard cases with a revolving shutter mechanism that keeps out dust. The write-once and rewriteable versions of the discs are US$45 each while the two-bay AfterBurner kit is $3,199, with a $2,995 price tag on the internal SCSI or external USB 2.0/SCSI models. The second bay on the two-bay version can house a hard drive that can be added to the order.