: SPhotoix moves its 5D Memory Crystal cold storage tech closer to deployment in data centers

After decades of research and development, humanity finally has a data storage medium that will outlast us.

The 5D Memory Crystal stores data by using tiny voxels – 3D pixels – in fused silica glass, etched by femtosecond laser pulses. These voxels possess “birefringence,” meaning that their light refraction characteristics vary depending upon the polarization and direction of incoming light.

That difference in light orientation and strength can be read in conjunction with the voxel’s location (x, y, z coordinates), allowing data to be encoded in five dimensional space.

And because the medium is silica crystal, similar to optical cable, it’s highly durable. It’s also capacious: The technology can store up to 360 TB of data on a 5-inch glass platter.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
    6·
    2 days ago

    The real annoying part of CDs was the failure rate. It could be the medium, the burner, or the software, but it always seemed you’d spend time waiting for the data to be saved to a more “permanent” source, and it would finally pop up with an error and the whole disk is now trash. Kind of glad that tech is now obsolete. I think you could redo a read/write a few times, but they had similar issues and it was a pain.

        • Powderhorn@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          I doubt it was the microwave situation. One does that once. In college. On the floor kitchen because even though you have your own, this experiment is worth doing in public.