DailyDirt: Storing Digital Bits In More Ways
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
"Lots of copies keeps stuff safe" is an archivist mantra for preserving data for a long, long time. It certainly looks like there's no end to the development of data storage. We have magnetic tape (multiple varieties), CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, HD-DVDs, hard drives, solid state drives and the list goes on and on. Certain industries seem to make money every time there's a shift from, say, LPs to cassettes to CDs (to streaming?), but what happens when everyone can store every song ever recorded in the palm of their hand? Technology isn't there yet, but it might be soon.- Storing digital information in minerals could create memory technology that's durable for a million years. However, the problem probably won't be how long the information remains un-corrupted -- but how long it'll be before the tech is obsolete and no one can retrieve their ancient file formats. Storing information for hundreds or thousands of years can be done, but it's also difficult to ensure the technology to read it will still exist. [url]
- 3D Xpoint is a new kind of non-volatile memory from Intel and Micron that claims to be 1,000 times faster than current flash drives and solid state drives. It's also 10 times denser than conventional memory and is expected to be commercially available in 2016. [url]
- Photonic memory chips sound like the future, and some researchers have even created a non-volatile kind of memory using phase change materials. Using light instead of electrons as the basis for computing devices isn't quite ready yet, but creating more and more components that could form a completely optical computer could jumpstart a different kind of Moore's law. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: archive, backup, data, media, memory, non-volatile memory, photonic memory, storage
Companies: ibm, intel, micron
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
"Storing digital information in minerals could create memory technology that's durable for a million years"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Then came the treehuggers demanding that CD makers use biodegradable plastic. CD makers embraced the idea, because you know, save the planet, rewrite your CDs every six months otherwise you lose your data.
When will we have biodegradable crystals, really?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]