Nanoforms: Data Forever

Books Burn and Discs Die, but These Etched Sapphire 'Nanoforms' Last Forever

Drew Prindle | June 19, 2015

Storing data for a significant stretch of time is a trickier task than it might seem. Paper and film can last a few generations if they’re carefully preserved, but even under the best conditions they tend to fade after while. Digital media (CDs, flash drives, and external hard drives) have a 30-year life span at best — assuming they aren’t scratched, corrupted, demagnetized, or rendered obsolete by newer systems before then. And the cloud? That’ll only last for as long as we can keep our current Internet infrastructure intact, and that’s completely out of your hands.

Alain Rey (inventor of the Nanoform) in a clean room at CEA/Leti, holding a freshly created 8" Nanoform. Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/862339253/fahrenheit-2451-preserve-your-data-for-eternity

<more at http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/nanoform-laser-etched-sapphire-data-storage/; related links: http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/gear/computers/nanoform-sapphire-eternal-storage-disk.asp (Nanoform Sapphire Eternal Storage Disk) and https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/862339253/fahrenheit-2451-preserve-your-data-for-eternity (Fahrenheit 2451 - Preserve Your Data in a Sapphire Disk) (+Video)>