The future of data storage might be ceramic glass that can last thousands of years | Cerabyte’s ceramic glass storage endures boiling and baking in extreme durability tests

From the article: As the world faces a data tsunami, with most information destined for long-term storage, one technology could offer a sustainable, low-maintenance alternative. Whether Cerabyte can deliver on its promise of millennia-long durability and ultra-low costs remains to be seen. Still, its boiling and baking tests have already raised the bar in the race for the future of data storage.

Cerabyte recently conducted an experiment that seemed more like a culinary exercise than a technology showcase. The German storage startup plunged a sliver of its archival glass storage into a kettle of boiling salt water, then roasted it in a pizza oven.

Despite enduring temperatures of 100°C in the kettle and 250°C in the oven, the storage medium emerged unscathed, with its data fully intact. This experiment – along with a similar live demonstration at the Open Compute Project Summit in Dublin – was not just a spectacle. It was Cerabyte’s way of proving a bold claim: its storage media can withstand conditions that would destroy conventional data storage.

Founded in 2022, Cerabyte is on a mission to upend the world of digital archiving. The company’s technology relies on an ultra-thin ceramic layer – just 50 to 100 atoms thick – applied to a glass substrate.

Using femtosecond lasers, data is etched into the ceramic in nanoscale holes. Each 9 cm² chip can store up to 1 GB of information per side, written at a rate of two million bits per laser pulse. Cerabyte claims the result is a medium as durable as ancient hieroglyphs, with a projected lifespan of 5,000 years or more.

Man, at the end, we will end up coding on stone tablets. Full circle.

Definitely interesting. Microsoft did something similar with quartz glass back in 2019. Also using femtosecond lasers to write the data.

They also did the whole boiling and baking tests.

I wonder which medium is more efficient for long term data storage.