Kaustubh
Member • Oct 21, 2013
Silicon-Nitried / Tungsten based HDDs will store data for a million years at least
Current generation of storage media has one problem it's carried over for several decades, since the introduction of magnetic disk based storage system by IBM back in 1956: they can't retain data for more than a few years. Most of the storage devices can hold data for a little longer than a decade. While the storage media have grown in capacity; the problem of data longevity needed an attention and it looks like Jeroen de Vries from University of Twente (Netherlands) has found a solution. De Vries & co-researchers have developed a new kind of storage disk that can store data for a million years at least.
The research team used tungsten, which has a very high melting temperature (about 3422 degree Celsius) and has a relatively lower thermal expansion coefficient along with a protective layer made from Silicon Nitride (Si3N4). The team recorded the data in the form of QR codes with about 100nm wide lines on the media and then exposed it to various temperatures to see how the medium retained data. The results were super impressive.
The team also performed accelerated aging tests and found that the medium will be able to store data for very long times - more than a million years without any issues. De Vries and team are confident that they can build an even better & robust storage media that will survive house fires, floods or even a meteor strike.
All this means you can be confident that you won't be wiped out from the world even several centuries from now. You may continue to exist in the digital form to be discovered by your great great great grandchildren. Tell us what do you think about it?
Via: #-Link-Snipped-#
The research team used tungsten, which has a very high melting temperature (about 3422 degree Celsius) and has a relatively lower thermal expansion coefficient along with a protective layer made from Silicon Nitride (Si3N4). The team recorded the data in the form of QR codes with about 100nm wide lines on the media and then exposed it to various temperatures to see how the medium retained data. The results were super impressive.
The team also performed accelerated aging tests and found that the medium will be able to store data for very long times - more than a million years without any issues. De Vries and team are confident that they can build an even better & robust storage media that will survive house fires, floods or even a meteor strike.
All this means you can be confident that you won't be wiped out from the world even several centuries from now. You may continue to exist in the digital form to be discovered by your great great great grandchildren. Tell us what do you think about it?
Via: #-Link-Snipped-#