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this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2026
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No, sorry, I mean digital data. Like all these computer stuff. It is a severe problem that we don't really have a way to backup out enormous amounts of data in a way that will last, say, 100 years. We're currently living in a dark age.
There is absolutely tech that can store digital files for centuries or potentially millennia e.g. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/project-silicas-advances-in-glass-storage-technology/
It's expensive to store and slow to read, so it can only be used as an archival format for the most important data, but it does exist nonetheless.
Sure, there's lots of solutions that exist, but realistically most data will not be backed up with this, and even if it were we have to store them somewhere very safe. But let's say we move past our current compression algorithms, error correction methods, even binary computers. We could be at a point where one catastrophic data loss renders them unreadable. At the speed tech moves, it could happen 30-50 years after they're made.
m-discs and blurays supposedly will last many centuries with data intact in a dry cave, but can't store very much per disc.
Yeah, storage capacity is a big part of the issue. We can carve data into stone, but not a lot.
There was an announcement some months back that a very durable, very high capacity data crystal had been made in a lab, but I can't comment on the prospects for such tech becoming widely accessible.
My toddler has entered the chat
TBF most storage media are weak to toddler
I’ve found the most resilient storage format is board books and even they take a beating after a while
Oh right muh bad