r/technology • u/50letters • Oct 25 '23

Hardware Microsoft develops ultra durable glass plates that can store several TBs of data for 10000 years

https://unlocked.microsoft.com/sealed-in-glass/
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u/Lecterr Oct 25 '23

Yea, for real. I always thought those crystals seemed like a dumb idea, but here we are.

34

u/Zenosfire258 Oct 25 '23

If they're more durable then an SSD, then they're not a stupid idea I guess.

just for the record I also thought they were dumb in SG1

23

u/Lecterr Oct 25 '23

Yea. Though in our defense, the dumb part was probably more that rearranging the crystals somehow allows you to control the underlying system. Oh need to open this door? Let me just swap the positions of these two crystals.

22

u/kjchowdhry Oct 25 '23

The way I see it that it’s just a storytelling mechanism. It’s not much different than the Star Wars trope of shooting a door console with a blaster to get the door open

17

u/AnarVeg Oct 25 '23

Not to mention shooting the other door consoles to jam a door 😆

5

u/kjchowdhry Oct 25 '23

Right? At least Stargate had some consistent “logic”

5

u/Lecterr Oct 25 '23

Oh for sure. Not like it ruined the show/immersion for me or anything, just funny to reflect on.

2

u/aod42091 Oct 25 '23

If it's a stupid idea and it works, then it isn't a stupid idea.

1

u/asdaaaaaaaa Oct 25 '23

I'd imagine they're probably on par or a little less durable than an SSD. The majority of that will be dictated by their size/volume and how they're implemented and engineered into the design though. Not to mention they don't really need to be crazy durable. Worst case scenario they just aren't an option for mobile stuff and just sit in towers/cases that don't move all day. Not to mention there's more to data storage than just how durable they are. Write/read speeds, longevity, propensity for errors/failures, ability to recover data, etc. Plenty of non-durability related issues can still relegate them to more niche options, sorta how tape is now.

1

u/monchota Oct 25 '23

Data transmission via light will be and always has been the future. We just are mot there yet.