360TB disc that holds data for more than 1 million years

As the title states it is in fact true that a team from University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre are making a breakthrough in terms of storage capacity. Namely a 360TB (TeraByte Disc) which can theoretically hold data contents for more than a million years. I have to admit that even I think I'm at the point where I'm no longer reporting on technical marvels but instead writing up a science fiction blog. Incredibly this is actually possible so it seems.

The disc will be a glass storage medium that could potentially outlive mankind, this new type of memory also touts incredible specifications such as the 360Tb per disc capacity and get this the ability to withstand extreme temperatures of up to 1,832 Fahrenheit. All of this is achieved by harnessing the power of a speedy femtosecond laser, during tests researchers successfully wrote 300kb of data to an everlasting medium which consist of self-assembled nano-structures within fused quartz.

The femtosecond laser emits short but powerful pulses of light which then encode data to three separate layers of Nano-structured dots within the glass only 5 micro-metres apart. According to the researchers the laser writes in five dimensions this is based on orientation, size and three-dimensional position of the Nano-structures. This type of storage medium will more likely use W-O-R-M data format (Write Once Read Many).

The team at the University was led by Jingyu Zhang, with his team now seek to bring this technology to the commercial level. If you're really interested you can read the more scientific "5D Data Storage by Ultra-fast Laser Nano-structuring In Glass" white paper, which was submitted to the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics in San Jose California.