5D glass crystal could preserve human knowledge for 10,000 years

Scientists used ultrafast lasers to write the entire human genome onto a coin-sized 5D quartz crystal. The glass media holds up to 360 TB, survives 1,000 °C and needs no energy to preserve data, with commercial deployment expected in about five years.

• 5D fused-silica crystals store up to 360 TB of data
• Glass withstands 1,000 °C, half-ton impact and EMPs
• Microsoft wrote ~2 TB onto borosilicate glass rated for 10,000 years
• Commercial deployment expected in about five years