Microsoft team creates 'revolutionary' data storage system that lasts millennia

Posted by gnabgib 3 days ago

Microsoft team creates 'revolutionary' data storage system that lasts millennia(www.nature.com)

12 points | 6 comments

gnabgib 3 days ago|

Paper [Laser writing in glass for dense, fast and efficient archival data storage](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-10042-w)

wumms 3 days ago||

Current write speed (No read speed given):

    Blu-ray (1×)            ~36   Mbit/s
    MS-Glass (single beam)  ~25.6 Mbit/s
    MS-Glass (multi-beam)   ~65.9 Mbit/s

That's ~7-18 days per 120mm x 120mm medium (4.8TB). Glass prices stable for now. Also, the authors make no statement about horizontal vs. vertical storage.

ortusdux 3 days ago||

Any idea why they are reporting the estimated lifespan at 290°C? Testing seems to have been done at 440°C and above.

casey2 3 days ago|

Coz the paper gives a function for extrapolating from these tests. This is purely testing thermal decay.

10,000 years sounds like a good benchmark and isn't as obviously ridiculous as saying a million years at 260°C

homarp 3 days ago||

also at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47065175

jmclnx 3 days ago|

The big question, is it patented to the point were no one can buy the burners and media ?

Will it run on Linux ?