Microsoft keeps the data in glass and can safely store it for thousands of years.

The Microsoft Research team is working on the Project Silica bismuth dioxide program, which stores the data in a super-strong glass. To prove its effectiveness, Microsoft and Warner Bros. have collaborated to store the classic "Superman" movie on the glass. Copy, and it is important to read the data successfully. This 1978 film is kept on a 75 x 75 x 2mm quartz glass.

Microsoft believes that as the world's data continues to grow, file storage becomes a big issue. Existing systems, whether they rely on tape, SSD or hard disk, can be stored for a while, but data security is still not guaranteed. In particular, considering some aspects of natural disasters, some new measures are needed.

Superman uses quartz to store data is true! Microsoft keeps the data in glass and can safely store it for thousands of years.

The Project Silica cerium oxide program uses ultra-fast laser technology to accomplish this task. The laser is stored in a piece of hard quartz glass, and a 3D grating and a deformation are formed on the quartz glass by a laser with different shades and angles to store the data. It's a bit like the old record recording method, but the density of the record is compact and more complicated. Microsoft then uses machine learning algorithms to decode images and patterns produced by polarized light through the glass.

Microsoft said that a piece of 2 cm thick glass can contain more than 100 data layers. Each layer consists of a physical deformation of the glass, and then a machine learning algorithm jumps between them to decode it. As it turns out, quartz glass has an unexpected elasticity, can withstand temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius, can be boiled or microwaved, and even scrubbed with steel wire. Since the data is stored inside the glass rather than on the glass surface, there is no impact on the ease of reading the data.

This technology is still in its infancy. Currently, although machine learning algorithms can browse data non-sequentially from glass storage, the process still needs to increase read speed. Microsoft said that in fact, data needs to be encoded first, and efforts are being made to increase the density of stored data. If Project Silica succeeds, it could lead to a new way to save data, but it can last for thousands of years.

In fact, we have seen the storage of information in glass. We have seen it in the Superman movie. In Superman's Fortress of Solitude, Superman uses the method of inserting quartz to read computer data. Perhaps for this reason, Microsoft chose to work with Warner to store the Superman movie of the year on the glass.

Superman uses quartz to store data is true! Microsoft keeps the data in glass and can safely store it for thousands of years.

Photo by Jonathan Banks for Microsoft.