Futuristic, yet deeply rooted in the past, it could be the answer to your long-term data storage dilemma.
Many of our readers must have experienced the annoying feeling of searching for an old CD, DVD or hard drive and discovering how the data holder has quietly given up during the rest years, such that it is no longer possible, or only at great expense. Pain, to recover the files stored on it.
The key word is the frightening decline, the iron age of time, which sooner or later consumes these traditional solutions. On the other hand, Microsoft has come up with a compact and energy-efficient technology that can ensure the preservation of our data for thousands of years.
the The silica project has been operating for years Within the framework of the project, the people of Redmond use glass plates the size of cups to store files, which are used in an ultra-fast way, so-called. They are recorded using a femtosecond laser, in the form of three-dimensional pixels, that is, voxels. Written media can no longer be modified, but a single disk can store up to several terabytes of data.
“Initially, the laser writing process was inefficient, but after years of improvement, the team is now able to store multiple cels on a single sheet of glass, which remains available for up to 10,000 years. To give a sense of scale, each disc can contain “On about 3,500 films, or so many films, we can play them for more than half a year without interruption or repetition.”
– Microsoft demonstrates the potential of the technology. According to the Redmonds, the futuristic process actually dates back to the 19th century, with photographic negatives recorded on glass plates. Another great advantage of using glass is that the storage does not require power, so it is enough to find a safe place to save your data in the distant future.
According to researchers at Project Silica, the technology still needs to be perfected for years before it can be commercially deployed, but Microsoft has already teamed up with a company called Elire Group, which At the Global Music Vault in Svalbard, Norway I would like to put up glass panels to preserve the music for future generations.
