Microsoft knows that the traditional methods for long-term data storage are nowhere near perfect, and in response, it created "Project Silica" in 2019.
This venture from the Microsoft Research team, which explores ways to safely store digital data in glass, blew us away when we first saw it, and the team has now returned with a major update after a half-decade of research.
The breakthrough hinges on the discovery that "ordinary borosilicate glass" — heat-resistant stuff that makes up kitchen cookware — can be used for data storage. These findings have now been published in the Nature science journal.
Until this revelation, fused silica was being used by the team. The problem? It's expensive and not as easy to source as regular borosilicate. The move to a much more common type of glass solves cost and availability concerns, putting Project Silica one step closer to commercial success.
According to Partner Research Manager Richard Black, in a separate statement on the Microsoft Research blog, the team has also developed a way to test the longevity of its glass-based storage system with accelerated aging. The result? It looks like this sort of data storage can last for up to 10,000 years, even when using the more affordable and common borosilicate glass.
We have unlocked the science for parallel high-speed writing and developed a technique to permit accelerated aging tests on the written glass, suggesting that the data should remain intact for at least 10,000 years.
Richard Black, Microsoft Partner Research Manager
The research paper published in Nature details how the team can store hundreds of layers of data on a piece of glass that's just 2mm thick. When we first saw Project Silica in 2019, the machinery involved in writing data to glass was massive. Microsoft said it was working on miniaturizing the process.
That claim is now a reality. Reading data from glass used to require three or four cameras; now it only needs one. On the right side, the devices have been simplified to the point where they're easier to create and calibrate, speeding up the entire writing process.
As an example of Project Silica's progress, Microsoft's team was able to fit 4.8TB of data onto a piece of glass measuring 2mm by 120mm (or about 0.08 x 4.72 inches). The data is separated into 301 layers and was written at a speed of about 3.13MB/s.
That's certainly not a blistering speed compared to the 14,000+ MB/s speeds we get from modern solid-state drives, but when the data can last for 10,000 years, it's hard to be picky.
This might come as a surprise to some, but the traditional ways we store data are not a guarantee that the bits and bytes will be around forever. Even data centers struggle with preservation, as traditional methods typically expire within one or two decades.
Windows Central's take
Changing the way we store data, which is a commodity that grows at an alarming rate each day, is not only good for business, but it's also good for the environment.
Traditional magnetic storage requires a lot of care and energy, and being able to tuck away a piece of glass safely for the next 100 centuries is a huge step in the right direction.
Share your thoughts about Project Silica
What do you think about Microsoft's advancements in glass-based storage? Do you think it's the future of long-term data storage?
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