New data storage said to be indestructible(almost)

So, we all have means of storing sensitive and not-so-sensitive data one way or another; from our phones, to computers, to external hard drives, the cloud, the list is endless. Choosing the best way to store data is kinda tricky, but it all boils down to a few base questions:

1. Is it safe? Of course, we wouldn’t want our data, – sensitive or not, getting in the hands of the wrong person or people.
2. Will I be able to access it when I need it? You also wouldn’t want a case where you’d get to your data stash only to find out it’s either gone or inaccessible at that point in time.

That being said, this new  innovation has found a way to address both issues; well, sorta… It does have cons but I’ll get to those in a minute. First some background story.

Back in 2013, Researchers at the University of Southampton’s Optical Research Center found a way to store data in 5D disks, though at that time they could only store 300KB of data. Lemme explain; normally most of the things we see are in 3D: Length, Breadth and height, X,Y and Z blah, blah blah. The point is, they added two extra dimensions to the nano-scale dots which make up the information. The extra two dimension are the dot’s side and orientation; getting too techy or detailed? Fine, I’ll let you read up the rest.

Lemme stick to the things you really wanna know:

• It’s a super small disc- more like contact lenses.
• As of now, it can store up to 360TB of data on one of these discs(That’s a lot of data!).
• It can withstand temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius (Who would subject it to anything close to that?)
• It can last up to 13.8 billion years at room temperature and conditions without degrading. (If only Socrates had one of these)

Now the con(no pun intended). There really is just one major con which is the accessibility issue.

• It takes a microscope and a polarizer to read the data stored on it. That just kinda sticks it to rule 2 of data storage, don’t you think?

For now, we’ll just wait and see where this leads. A part of me hopes some sick tech company commercializes this and makes it a lot easier to read the data or say, even make our smartphones or computers compatible with this thing. Wishful thinking, I know. But, It doesn’t hurt to wish right?

Source: University of Southampton.