Microsoft's new 10k-year data storage medium: glass(arstechnica.com)
arstechnica.com
Microsoft's new 10k-year data storage medium: glass
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/microsofts-new-10000-year-data-storage-medium-glass/
13 comments
it’s possible to store up to 4.84TB in a single slab of glass
At the rate things are going, that might just be enough to hold a Windows with Copilot installer. /s
At the rate things are going, that might just be enough to hold a Windows with Copilot installer. /s
The slab of glass has about the size of a CD case and despite having less capacity per slab, the storage volume for a given amount of data would be about half of what would be needed now with the biggest HDDs and similar to the volume required by tape cartridges.
So the density is already good enough.
The main problem is the cost of the lasers used for writing, which would have to be reduced for mass production. The second important problem is the writing speed, but there also the cost of the lasers is the main problem, as for a greater speed more lasers can be added.
Despite the current writing speed being similar to downloading files from an Internet source that throttles you, I would be quite happy to have such a device, even with its current level of performance, to avoid worrying about having to pay periodically for new HDDs or tape drives, in order to migrate data from the old HDDs or tape formats.
So the density is already good enough.
The main problem is the cost of the lasers used for writing, which would have to be reduced for mass production. The second important problem is the writing speed, but there also the cost of the lasers is the main problem, as for a greater speed more lasers can be added.
Despite the current writing speed being similar to downloading files from an Internet source that throttles you, I would be quite happy to have such a device, even with its current level of performance, to avoid worrying about having to pay periodically for new HDDs or tape drives, in order to migrate data from the old HDDs or tape formats.
Is blu-ray best for hobbyists?
M-discs either DVD or Blu-ray works well[0]. It uses a mineral layer rather than the typical dyes and pigments to be more robust.
They are writable and readable by most modern standard drives.
The claims I generally see is 100 years for standard storage, 1000 years for archival storage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC
They are writable and readable by most modern standard drives.
The claims I generally see is 100 years for standard storage, 1000 years for archival storage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC
If you need tons of storage, I actually do think you should check out LTO. You can buy LTO-6 tapes for about $10 if you get a bunch at a time, and each is about a 2.5TB. On a good day you can find external SAS LTO-6 drives for about $200. LTO tapes are generally rated for decades of use so they’re pretty durable.
Nowadays on Linux you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS, so you don’t have to become some hyper-expert with tar.
Nowadays on Linux you can very easily mount LTO tapes like any other drive using LTFS, so you don’t have to become some hyper-expert with tar.
I was running Minix and OpenBSD at home, but in 1999 I began using Linux, and that was because it was mature, no longer only a toy for experimenting, but mostly that it was the only PC Unix OS that supported the "ftape" Floppy-Tape interface for a QIC backup drive.
https://tldp.org/HOWTO/Ftape-HOWTO.html
https://tldp.org/HOWTO/Ftape-HOWTO.html
I think you forgot to mention that the readers cost $5k+ new and $1k from ebay (does it work? who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
I have two used external LTO-6 decks that I got used for $200 each on eBay. LTO-7 and later are absurdly expensive, but you can shop around and occasionally find LTO-6 ones for cheap. You have to be a bit vigilant on eBay and shop around for awhile but deals can be had.
I had to “repair” the first one I bought, but that literally ended up being fixed by tightening a screw on the SAS connector. The second one I bought worked out of the box.
I had to “repair” the first one I bought, but that literally ended up being fixed by tightening a screw on the SAS connector. The second one I bought worked out of the box.
For a second, I thought it's the "5D crystal" from MI: Final Reckoning or something like that. But, this looks like drawing on slabs like the Egyptians. Lasers are still involved, but not going to have the cool glowing effect once data is in.
Sorry for the low-denominator comment.
Sorry for the low-denominator comment.
Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/project-silica... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47067211)
The Nature article (non-paywalled) has more details:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-10042-w
This project has continued at Microsoft for many years. Now they report progresses in density and writing speed.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-10042-w
This project has continued at Microsoft for many years. Now they report progresses in density and writing speed.
So a rough estimate, at the size of UMD, used in Playstation Portable, slightly smaller than the size of Mini Disc, it could store 1TB.
I assume we could do double layer in the future for 2TB.
For comparison that is roughly 1000x times the capacity of UMD. I would love to have this. Burn a few of these as backup and call it a day.