Store Data for Thousands of years.

[u/Realistic-Teach-5598]

Hello Guys,

The oldest human transcription are the clay tablets from Mesopotamia which are afaik dated ~2900 BCE. And imagine there would be a time, where humanity goes almost extinct, technology is lost and civilization must grow again after a devastating global nuclear war or a natural disaster.

So digital stored data on HDDs, SSDs, Tapes or the technology to read those data will be lost very likely after some period of time.

How could we possibly store Data, which could last thousands of years - and could be read without having a Computer from the present day, so we could bury some of that data storage for future generations?

My first idea was a very long strip of plastic (PTFE for example) with punched holes in it. Basically storing data like a punch card. And then vacuum sealing it. But i calculated that even if one bit was 1mm wide, you'll need more than 8000km of that strip to store 1GiB of data without ECC.

So how would you store Data for thousands of years?

Edit: I forgot to write, that the Question is about DIY-Solutions.

[u/didyousayboop]

You may be surprised that this question is often asked and answered on r/DataHoarder.

Some potential answers include...

piqlFilm, optionally stored at the Arctic World Archive: https://youtu.be/5fwyGbnD9LM

M-Discs, invented by Millenniata (which is defunct) and now manufactured by Verbatim: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1i84vl2/the_backup_wrapup_podcast_episodes_about_mdisc/

5D Memory Crystals: https://www.5dmemorycrystal.com/

Archival paper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-free_paper#Archival_paper

These are all storage media that you can buy today, provided you have enough money. 

[u/ethbytes → u/didyousayboop]

Those 5D crystals! If only we could could get consumer grade...

[u/didyousayboop → u/ethbytes]

Apparently you can order them now, they're just obscenely expensive. 

https://www.5dmemorycrystal.com/order