Consider a small glass disc which, when properly maintained, is capable of retaining all the knowledge of humanity, and is quite sure to survive in the billions of years, even when the civilization has vanished. This is not a science fiction but science fact. Scientists have now come up with a 5D glass storage disc which has the capacity to store up to 360 terabytes of information and is resistant to harsh conditions to last almost indefinitely.
The Birth of the 5D Data Disc
This is an invention that has transformed the world and which scientists at the University of Southampton, UK, have been experimenting with next-generation data preservation technologies. Their invention - called 5D optical data storage - involves laser nanostructuring at an extremely high speed within the interior of quartz glasses in order to store information in 5 dimensions.
This is thought to be the final long-term archiving solution to digital archives, which will be able to store data much further than the human lifetimes, and the team led by Professor Peter Kazansky is optimistic about this.
What Does “5D” Mean?
Conventional CDs or DVDs save information in two planes - across the surface. This new disc, in contrast has five dimensions of data storage:
1. The three dimension coordinates (X, Y, Z) within the glass.
2. The dimensions of individual nano-structures.
3. Light polarization direction.
How the 5D Glass Disc Works
Scientists develop microscopic nanostructures in the glass by a laser known as a femtosecond laser (a laser with pulses a quadrillionth of a second long). These structures are known to interact with light in a special manner, storing information in the same manner as optical barcodes.
Under special microscopes, these patterns can be read and decoded into digital information - of whole books and libraries of huge quantities of information.
Lasts longer than one can imagine.
The lifespan of the 5D disc is one of the most amazing features of 5D disc. The material is made of fused silica glass and can hardly be destroyed. Scientists say it is able to sustain heat to 1,000 o C and has the ability to last 13.8 billion years = approximately the age of the universe!
Those data, which are stored in these discs, may live longer than our planet, that is, our species, theoretically.
360 Terabytes in a Disc the Size of Palm.
One 5D disc is capable of storing 360 terabytes (TB) of information. To put that into perspective:
That is equivalent to more than 75 million photos,
• Or 100,000 full-length movies,
Not hundreds but thousandth times rather.
This technology has no maintenance requirements and permanent and stable data preservation unlike hard drives or magnetic tapes which degrade after a few decades.
Applications for the Future
The possibilities of this innovation are titanic. The 5D glass discs have been used to store historical files, cultural and scientific information by governments, museums and scientific institutions, forever.
Such technology has already been of interest to NASA in the maintenance of space mission data- making sure that the future generations (or even the alien civilization) would be able to utilize the progress of humanity.
The “Eternal Library” Concept
The scientists refer to this project as the Eternal Archive - eternity library. The University of Southampton has already archived copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Bible and big works of Newton and Einstein on prototype discs.
These might become time capsules that would not be discarded even over cosmic times — human knowledge would be preserved through space and time.
Why It’s Called a “Glass Memory”
The 5D disc unlike magnetic drives which use moving parts store the information in the atomic structure of the glass itself. It can withstand electromagnetic interference, radiation or decay in the environment - a real memory crystal.
Will This Be an Alternative to Cloud Storage?
Not yet - at any rate not in day-to-day use. A 5D disc data writer costs a lot of money in lasers and microscopic accuracy and is therefore, presently only appropriate in archiving data and not in writing it repeatedly.
Nevertheless, with the advent of technology, researchers believe that the process will be faster and cheaper and it may transform data centers and long-term cloud backups.
An anthology of the society of the future.
Libraries, universities, space agencies and many others are calling it a digital Rosetta Stone, a technology that might well save the history of the human race even when all the rest is lost.
When stored effectively, these discs would be able to survive the cosmic catastrophes, climate changes or even interstellar travel and therefore our knowledge will live forever.
Recommendation: Future of Forever Storage.
It is more than a technological marvel, this 5D glass disc is the solution to digital mortality of humanity. In a time where civilization is characterized by data, this invention is a guarantee that our collective wisdom is able to pass the test of time - indeed, even test of time.
Since intelligent life has been known to discover one of these discs billions of years off in the future, they will get to know who we were, and what we left behind.