Microsoft Demonstrates Glass Storage for 10,000-Year Data Durability
Microsoft Research’s Project Silica shows data can be written to borosilicate glass with femtosecond lasers, achieving up to 4.84 TB per 12×12 cm slab and potentially 10,000-year stability at room temperature. Data is encoded and read using voxel-based methods (birefringence or refractive-index changes) plus phase-contrast microscopy interpreted by AI, with LDPC error correction. Current writes run at 66 Mbps with four lasers, expandable to more lasers, but large-scale deployment would require many machines. The approach offers durable, energy-free storage and rapid retrieval, though commercialization remains distant and practical scale remains a challenge.
- Microsoft’s new 10,000-year data storage medium: glass Ars Technica
- Laser writing in glass for dense, fast and efficient archival data storage Nature
- Project Silica’s advances in glass storage technology featured in Nature Microsoft
- Stone, parchment or laser-written glass? Scientists find new way to preserve data The Guardian
- Microsoft’s Glass Chip Holds Terabytes of Data for 10,000 Years Gizmodo
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