Most of the world's information is stored digitally right now. Every year, we generate more data than we did the year before. Now, with AI in the picture, a technology that relies on a whole lot of data, the amount of digital information we save is increasing exponentially.
The research arm of Microsoft has been working on a method for data storage that uses a laser to write inside glass. The researchers say that the information written in the glass will last for 10,000 years.
If this method can be scaled for commercial use, it could change how we store the world's information. Data rot -- losing information due to old storage systems -- means we have to transfer data at least once every generation to keep it. Otherwise, it gets corrupted with age.
Microsoft's Project Silica research director Richard Black tells CNET that its work shows long-term digital storage in glass is practical, not just a science experiment.
"One of the biggest challenges with today's storage is that media wears out and has to be replaced regularly," Black says. "Glass doesn't have that problem."
Using a laser to modify pieces of glass to keep data safe for many lifetimes could have a drastic and lasting impact on all of the information we decide to keep.
Glass memory
Storing data in glass instead of using traditional digital systems is a project Microsoft has been working on for quite a while. Here's a video that CNET made of the project six years ago, when it was just an idea.
On Feb. 18, Microsoft's Project Silica published a paper in the science journal Nature that shows real advances in this long-term project. One of the big advances is writing the information on a less expensive material, which makes this technique more affordable.
Originally, the researchers used glass called fused silica. But this material, which is used for components in lasers and semiconductors, is expensive to manufacture, which could make the storage technology cost-prohibitive for many purposes.
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