Oh great

[Sigma_Orionis]

Every damn SciFi movie where stuff is kept on weird looking crystals just became true.

‘Superman’ crystal memory could outlast civilization

360 Terabytes, I want one, so I can back up all my stuff...

[cid]

Someone call me when they get a ReWritable version...

But think of the music industry...everything ever recorded on a sugar cube...where's that Ersel Hickey mp3 when I need it?

[SciFiFisher]

Hell, I am impressed that you can leave it in the car in direct sunlight and you won't lose any data!

[FZR1KG]

In 50 years time when we discover that we are out of natural quartz because we used them to create crystals to run computers, someone will discover the last remaining natural quartz crystal has part of our previous history from another planet with references to much great wisdom but the vital bits as missing, thus making the computer the most tragic form of information storage known to man.

[geonuc]

Oh great, now I'm gonna have to buy yet another data storage device because my next computer won't be able to read anything other than fused quartz.

[geonuc]

Speaking of the inevitable march of data storage technology, I recently had to retrieve an old document from a nuclear plant's Document Control center (they are required to keep virtually everything for the life of the plant). Given the age of the document, I expected to have to go to microfilm or perhaps they had a hard copy I could run through a copier. No, it was on a floppy disk and none of the computers we could find had a floppy reader installed. We eventually found an external floppy reader.

[Sigma_Orionis]

And on top of that Floppy shelf life is not exactly long lasting, hope they moved it to DVD.....

[geonuc]

And on top of that Floppy shelf life is not exactly long lasting, hope they moved it to DVD.....

You know, I have no idea what technology nuclear plants are going to for permanent storage. The great majority of current documents are generally available on their network servers, but for older stuff that most people don't require access to, no idea. Except hard copy. They still have plenty of that.

[FZR1KG]

I wonder what permanent storage means to most people because AFAIK cave painting technology outlasts all modern information storage systems.
Stone carving should go further but there's no proof yet as the technology for stone carving is relatively new at only 10,000 years or so. LOL

[Sigma_Orionis]

The density ain't that great, recording and retrieval is slow and hard.
maybe that's why most people dismiss it

[Swift]

I wonder what permanent storage means to most people because AFAIK cave painting technology outlasts all modern information storage systems.

Actually, a lot of the caves are having problems with the artwork being destroyed by visitation - not direct contact, but by CO2 and fungus. So it would appear that as a data storage system, they have limited reads.

The cave complex was opened to the public in 1948.[6] By 1955, the carbon dioxide produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 in order to preserve the art. After the cave was closed, the paintings were restored to their original state, and were monitored on a daily basis.

...

Since 1998 the cave has been beset with a fungus, variously blamed on a new air conditioning system that was installed in the caves, the use of high-powered lights, and the presence of too many visitors.[7] As of 2008, the cave contained black mold which scientists were and still are trying to keep away from the paintings. In January 2008, authorities closed the cave for three months even to scientists and preservationists. A single individual was allowed to enter the cave for 20 minutes once a week to monitor climatic conditions. Now only a few scientific experts are allowed to work inside the cave and just for a few days a month but the efforts to remove the mold have taken a toll, leaving dark patches and damaging the pigments on the walls

[Swift]

Every damn SciFi movie where stuff is kept on weird looking crystals just became true.

‘Superman’ crystal memory could outlast civilization

360 Terabytes, I want one, so I can back up all my stuff...

From the link

Fused quartz created from practically pure silica is used as the core component.

If it is fused quartz (glass) then technically it is not a crystal.

[FZR1KG]

I wonder what permanent storage means to most people because AFAIK cave painting technology outlasts all modern information storage systems.

Actually, a lot of the caves are having problems with the artwork being destroyed by visitation - not direct contact, but by CO2 and fungus. So it would appear that as a data storage system, they have limited reads.

The cave complex was opened to the public in 1948.[6] By 1955, the carbon dioxide produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 in order to preserve the art. After the cave was closed, the paintings were restored to their original state, and were monitored on a daily basis.

If you have 1200 people a day interacting with any high tech memory it won't last either long. Hell, sometimes all it take is an update. LOL

[Sigma_Orionis]

Yup, that's why there exists so many undelete tools.........