Under ideal
circumstances, traditional magnetic hard disks (and the data you store
on them) will last at most a decade. And when it comes to preserving
vital information about the human race and all that we've achieved,
that's simply not good enough. At least, that's according to researchers
at University of Twente. They've sought to develop a storage solution
that theoretically "can outlast the human race itself." The goal they've
set is 1 million years, with an even loftier stretch goal of 1 billion
years.
Storage that could last longer than our civilization
"Whether it is music, art,
literature, or scientific breakthroughs, people have tried to ensure
preservation of information for future generations," reads a newly
published paper on the so-called "gigayear" storage idea. "At some point
humanity as we know it will cease to exist and slowly all our
achievements will disappear. Given sufficient time, all memory of
humanity will be erased." To avoid this bleak and dire outcome, they've
developed a disk capable of storing data (and remaining readable) over
these ambitious timescales.
Since testing pure longevity is
a bit impractical in this scenario, accelerated aging tests are the
only practical way of gauging just how long the discs — fabricated with
tungsten and a protective silicon nitride layer — may last. Those
results seem to be promising. "A disk with data in the form of QR codes
has been fabricated and was able to survive the temperature tests, and
therefore will survive 1 million years of storage according to theory."
That said, concerns about durability remain. Temperatures that can be
reached in a typical house fire managed to completely destroy the
sample. But if the disk can be kept away from flames, the researchers
are fairly confident their storage solution could stand the test of
time.By Chris Welch
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