New data storage material has unlimited lifetime

[Latcarf]

Thermal stability up to 1000°C (1832°F)?? That little fact is amazing.

"Using nanostructured glass, scientists at the University of Southampton have, for the first time, experimentally demonstrated the recording and retrieval processes of five dimensional digital data by femtosecond laser writing. The storage allows unprecedented parameters including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1000°C and practically unlimited lifetime."

VIA:

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-5d-optical-memory-glass-evidence.html#jCp

[drakesdoom]

(Near) Unlimited shelf life, anytime you are writing data with a laser their is an upper limit on how many times you can rewrite to a location.

[Nuke]

or if you drop it. i can imagine the whole of human knoledge sitting on the desk of some alien overloard serving as a paperweight, assuming it survived the invasion.

[Awaras]

Hmph...

I remember when they said the same thing about CD's.

[Scotius]

Heh. 3/4 of alien tech in my favourite Stargate show used crystals as data storage and control devices. I would laugh like a madman if i'd got to play with such technology .

[Sirrobert]

Hmph...

I remember when they said the same thing about CD's.

Well in comparison, it was a little true