A disk that can store data for millions of years has been created

In 1956, IBM introduced us to the first computer that could store data on magnetic disk. It was the IBM 305 RAMAC , and it used 50 24-inch disks^to store up to 5 MB. At the time, 5 MB was an impressive number. Now? Now we can easily find disks that store up to 1TB of data, in just one 3.5-inch.

So the sizes and capacities may have changed, but what hasn't changed is the length of time one can keep their data on such a drive. A decade. Until now.

Jeroen de Vires from the University of Twente in the Netherlands and his colleagues have designed and built a disk that can store data for longer than the previously known decade. By performing software simulations, they concluded that the data on this disk can remain for at least 1 million years! How did they do this?

We won't bore you with the details, but roughly speaking, they used the Arrhenius that connects the data erosion process with the necessary energy. Energy like temperature, for example. According to this law, scientists calculated that in order for the data on a disk to last for a million years, this disk would have to remain unchanged for more than an hour, at 445 degrees Kelvin (about 171.85 degrees Celsius). The disk created by the Dutch not only passed this test with ease, but also withstood up to 848 degrees Kelvin (585 degrees Celsius), although it had large data losses. But what did they make that can withstand so long?

The basic principle of the new disk is simple. They chose a metal that reaches a melting point at a very high temperature (3422 degrees Celsius), tungsten, etched the data in parallel rows and then covered these grooves with a film of silicon nitride. In this way, they ensured that the data would not be corrupted in a material and medium that would withstand the wear and tear of natural materials over time.

The Dutch invention may not seem useful to us in our everyday lives, but it could easily pave the way for longer-term data storage for end users, but most importantly, it could provide a storage medium so that an important part of global culture, the data we have created since the dawn of computers, can remain in history. Something like the Library of Alexandria for all our data. Fantastic?

Source: digitallife.gr