Researchers Develop Disc with 360TB Capacity

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Having massive storage problems and need a little larger storage solution? Researchers at two universities joined forces to create a glass storage disc capable of handling 360TB of data and keep it stored without degradation for an estimated one million years.

The laser works by “shooting” rapid pulses of light onto the glass disc, being able to apply the data in the form of “nanostructured dots” in three layer forms that are spaced a mere 5-micrometers apart from each other.
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You know, I think it's great that these achievements are made but honestly, until it becomes something stable for market, I call fluff. I've run out of fingers and toes for the amount of times I've heard about new "super capacity, long life" storage milestones and have yet to see them come to fruition, even in part.
 
I have to agree with MajorDomo here. Lets see something functional. I am sure this is for long term backup only because it shouldn't be rewritable. And I don't understand how GLASS would maintain data for a million years let alone a couple hundred. (As glass as we all know is a fluid.)
 
Now all we need is a CPU powerful enough to rebuild a Raid 6 of those in under a day.
 
I would be happy if BDXL discs were cheaper than $45 a pop. I would be livid if that failed while burning.
 
Term-X said:
You know, I think it's great that these achievements are made but honestly, until it becomes something stable for market, I call fluff. I've run out of fingers and toes for the amount of times I've heard about new "super capacity, long life" storage milestones and have yet to see them come to fruition, even in part.
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I'm extremely jaded about tech news which purports a huge leap. Announced then forgotten, never to be mentioned again.
 
Grimlaking said:
And I don't understand how GLASS would maintain data for a million years let alone a couple hundred. (As glass as we all know is a fluid.)
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This is not actually true. The myth came about because of the way glass used to be blown, not because it is a liquid.
 
pxc said:
Learn something new every day! I thought it was an amorphous solid with very rigid bonds (does not flow). Damn lying chem teachers. :mad: ;)
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While his terminology is incorrect, I believe the point he made still stands. Glass Does not hold its shape over the passage of time. I have been in hundreds of 100+ year old houses over the years and can attest to seeing this effect. While the disc they are developing is no doubt durable, a million years is quite a bit of a stretch.
 
weren't cd's, dvds and blu rays suposed to last forever?
 
Stoly said:
weren't cd's, dvds and blu rays suposed to last forever?
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I don't think they were ever advertised as lasting forever, but the advertising often did point out that playing back optical media caused no wear, as opposed to records and tapes. A "lifetime" of playback was sometimes mentioned.

User damage, poor storage conditions and manufacturing defects* can all significantly lower the life of optical media. Even minor damage, scuffing the printed side or making imperceptibility small holes in the protective lacquer coating, will allow oxidation to occur with the sputtered aluminum layer. It's just a matter of time after that.

* which should be caught and discarded (or at least they were where I worked)!!!
 
^^ my link just states that the "Glass is a Liquid" thing is a myth and has been debunked already.
 
Wow, having little glass discs would be cool. How futuristic would that look!! LIKE IN THE MOVIES!!!!
 
pxc said:
Yes, it does. If you see droopy glass, that's how it was made at high temperature. :p
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So apparently all Window makers in the late 1800's/early 1900's were terrible at making flat sheets. Learn something new every day I guess.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
While his terminology is incorrect, I believe the point he made still stands. Glass Does not hold its shape over the passage of time. I have been in hundreds of 100+ year old houses over the years and can attest to seeing this effect. While the disc they are developing is no doubt durable, a million years is quite a bit of a stretch.
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Again, not true. It appears that the glass is flowing down because of the way it was blown 100 years ago. In fact it has always looked like that. We have samples of glass that are thousands of years old that have retained their shape.
 
I used to go to school for ceramic engineering and I was told that glass is either a meta-stable liquid or a meta-stable solid as there is still some debate amongst the experts in the field as to which it is. By the way, this all has to do with phase equilibria and not "does glass flow?"
 
and cd's and dvd were said to last 100 years!!! will believe it when i see it, people still dont trust BR-RW disks...
 
The issue of mishandling can be addressed by placing the disk in a sealed unit such as conventional hard drives are now. With that much storage space there is no need for removable media that can get damaged.
 
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