Maybe the medium will last longer, but isn't "If you have a computer with the right software and an optical microscope hooked up to it" a big part of the data decay problem on floppy disks etc.? Even if the data is there, it's useless without the right software/hardware to read it.
Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
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Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#12Can they rewrite stuff on glass? Or is it a one way write?
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#13Old idea. Here's a 2009 Coding Horror post about doing the same thing with paper: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/07/the-paper-data-stor...
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#14re the original AP report, people aren't replacing LPs and CDs because the media are wearing out, they're replacing them because newer media have higher storage densities, are more physically convenient and in some cases because they allow higher fidelity recording. Yes this medium will last longer than LPs, CDs etc, but it will do nothing at all to remedy the actual reasons these older media are being superseded. Ed…
The second part of your comment is interesting. Can electronics be designed in a way so that it has a very long life?
The idea - hard-code information to silicon and preserve it. e.g. Chips on PCBs that are completely encased in substrate. Provide fused power prongs and a serial port interface to this. Future systems can integrate to this to consume the data.
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#15Just to be a smartass: I guess it will last for a significant timespan, but not actually "forever" unless Hitachi also finds out how to reverse entropy or how to leave this universe. If they don't a lot of stuff might get their data, like proton-decay, the upcoming black hole era or the fact that everything is liquid on very large timescales. Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future#Fu…
Nothing last forever... except hyperbole.
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#16re the original AP report, people aren't replacing LPs and CDs because the media are wearing out, they're replacing them because newer media have higher storage densities, are more physically convenient and in some cases because they allow higher fidelity recording. Yes this medium will last longer than LPs, CDs etc, but it will do nothing at all to remedy the actual reasons these older media are being superseded. Ed…
CD/DVD/BlueRays do wear out, specially if they are from cheap brands.
The coating layer just vanishes, leaving you with an unreadable piece of plastic.
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#17sounds fantastic. I will go buy an optical microscope and the software.
Honestly, after all this research is the best Hitachi could come up with? How about a marble stone with some dots on it? They seem to last a long time too.
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#18what if glass breaks ??
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#19re the original AP report, people aren't replacing LPs and CDs because the media are wearing out, they're replacing them because newer media have higher storage densities, are more physically convenient and in some cases because they allow higher fidelity recording. Yes this medium will last longer than LPs, CDs etc, but it will do nothing at all to remedy the actual reasons these older media are being superseded. Ed…
CD/DVD/BlueRays do wear out, specially if they are from cheap brands. The coating layer just vanishes, leaving you with an unreadable piece of plastic.
I understand that, but how many of the people moving on from CDs to other storage and playback technologies are doing so for that reason? Media wear is only one reason a medium gets superseded, and not a major one. This new medium may have a role in long term archival applications, but comparing it to consumer technologies like tapes and CDs is misleading.
Re: Hitachi presents a storage medium that should last forever
#20re the original AP report, people aren't replacing LPs and CDs because the media are wearing out, they're replacing them because newer media have higher storage densities, are more physically convenient and in some cases because they allow higher fidelity recording. Yes this medium will last longer than LPs, CDs etc, but it will do nothing at all to remedy the actual reasons these older media are being superseded. Ed…
The second part of your comment is interesting. Can electronics be designed in a way so that it has a very long life? The idea - hard-code information to silicon and preserve it. e.g. Chips on PCBs that are completely encased in substrate. Provide fused power prongs and a serial port interface to this. Future systems can integrate to this to consume the data.
You just described cartridges like in C64 or some video game consoles :)