Microsoft's new method of storing data could make SSDs obsolete

Microsoft is working on a new method for storing data, with the goal of developing an ultra-durable archival medium capable of preserving data for hundreds or even thousands of years without degradation.

Currently, Solid State Storage (SSD) and mechanical hard drives generally last 5 to 20 years, with the lifespan of any given drive dependent on how often it is accessed. Instead of improving NAND flash or the mechanical design of a hard drive, Microsoft looked to borosilicate glass, which can withstand temperatures over 500 degrees Celsius, microwaves, water submersion, magnetic interference, electromagnetic pulses, and surface damage such as scratches.

In a new paper, Microsoft reports successfully storing 4.8TB of data on a 120mm-square piece of borosilicate glass measuring 2mm thick. For comparison, a hard drive storage measures typically 63.5 to 88.9mm wide, and can only store 1 or 2GB. To achieve this feat in data storage, Microsoft used femtosecond lasers to write data inside the glass.

Each laser pulse lasts for one quadrillionth of a second, carving tiny, permanent structures within the glass. These are called voxels and encode information. The voxels form layered patterns within the glass, and when read with polarized light, high-resolution imaging, and machine learning algorithms, they can be decoded, and the information within them converted back to digital data.

The end result is data storage that is extremely durable and readable for possibly more than 10,000 years from now. Is it going to replace HDDs and SSDs within the next 5 years? Absolutely not. This is very fringe technology that requires many moving parts to produce, and it doesn't seem headed for consumers anyway, as Microsoft envisions it being used to create massive cold-storage libraries of digital data.