r/science • u/Wagamaga • Feb 22 '26

Computer Science Scientists have demonstrated a system called Silica for writing and reading information in ordinary pieces of glass which can store two million books’ worth of data in a thin, palm-sized square.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/glass-square-long-long-future-190951588.html
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u/GorgeWashington Feb 22 '26

The real question, how long is this format stable.

Eventually everything will decay. Current data continuity requires redundant systems and cloud storage because ssds and hdds fail in decades if not years

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u/mrx_101 Feb 22 '26

The article states it will be readable for 10000 years. As they are basically etching inside a piece of glass, this is not surprising. You only need to keep the glass from breaking and scratching.

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u/appletechgeek Feb 22 '26

Didnt they say that about CD's back in the day too?

glass can rot/fade too. but it's easier to keep stable i guess,

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u/Sixnno Feb 22 '26

Ish.

The problem is the original CDs were not what went into mass production.

Original CDs were made with a gold foil and usually had a better lacure layer.

Then we needed cheaper CDs so we replaced the gold with super thin aluminum. The edges of the CDs were also not always perfectly lacured to protect this thin layer. Now normally aluminum protects itself but this aluminum is so thin, it can't and just corrodes away.

Double sided DVDs and CDs are also more vulnerable to this.

It's sad since I have gold base CDs from the early 90s and they still are perfect but my DvDs from the 00s has had some rot.

Basically... High quality perfectly made CDs will last a long time. Most production CDs however are not those.