Data Can Be Stored for Billions of Years in This 5D Crystal

Cold data storage might not be as exciting as a new cutting-edge high-speed storage solution. Not many people get excited about data that sits around doing nothing for years on end. But with a few recent technological advances, it looks like cold storage is really heating up. We recently reported on a data storage method that uses dehydrated synthetic DNA to keep your files safe for decades to come. But now, there is another option that may be around as long as the universe itself.

A startup called SPhotonix has developed what they call 5D Memory Crystal technology. This glass-based cold storage system is close to being ready for real-world use, and is capable of storing data for up to 13.8 billion years — which also happens to be the age of the universe. Presumably this longevity has not been verified experimentally.

The underlying medium is a small disc made from fused silica glass, roughly five inches across, that is written using ultra-short femtosecond laser pulses. Instead of storing data magnetically or electronically, the laser creates nanoscale structures inside the glass known as voxels, or three-dimensional pixels. Each voxel permanently alters the way light passes through that precise point in the glass, forming the foundation of the storage system.

What makes the approach "five-dimensional" is how much information each voxel can carry. Traditional optical storage relies only on position, but SPhotonix encodes data using three spatial coordinates (x, y, and z) along with two optical properties of the voxel itself: the orientation and intensity of its birefringence. Birefringence causes light to split and behave differently depending on its polarization. By shining polarized light through the glass and analyzing how it emerges, the system can decode not just where a voxel is located, but how it was written.

This combination allows for extremely high data density. According to the company, a single glass disc can store up to 360 terabytes of data. Because the information is physically etched into silica, it requires no power to maintain, is inherently air-gapped, and is highly resistant to heat, radiation, and electromagnetic interference. SPhotonix claims the data should remain intact for billions of years, even at temperatures approaching 190 degrees Celsius, making it far more durable than magnetic tape, hard drives, or conventional optical discs.

There is, of course, a tradeoff, and that is speed. Current prototypes write data at about 4 MB per second and read at around 30 MB per second, which places the technology firmly in the cold storage category. SPhotonix says this is acceptable for archives where retrieval times of 10 seconds or more are normal, and it has a roadmap to boost speeds to around 500 MB per second within a few years, putting it in the same class as modern tape systems.

Rather than selling storage services directly, SPhotonix plans to license its technology to partners and integrate it into existing data center workflows. If that plan works out, you may soon be able to safely store your data until the end of time.