3 ms·

How to Store Data Forever

7 points by janvdberg 7y ago

sigmaprimus 7y ago
I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed but I read this hoping to find a permanent storage solution, after all thats what the title says. If it's too good to be true it probably is. I suppose etched gold laminated in glass (simlar to plastic laser discs) might provide a very long term storage solution with high enough data density for the current times. Other than that I can only think of punch cards which dont have the density for a current long term storage schemes. I have heard murmurs of some sort of genetic engineering system that theoretically allows for the storage of data in a GMO plant that could in theory last forever. Maybe some sort of space radio telescope system that bounces back signals? Anyone else know of a way, or have an outside the box idea to store data for a very very long time?
- ddevault 7y ago
  Author here. The problem is, on a long enough time scale, you don't just need your data to be intact - you need it to be interpretable and relevant, too. How would you communicate with someone 10,000 years in the future? I did address this in my article: the answer is, you need a real life chain of human beings between you and there which is maintianing the data to ensure it is understandable and useful.
  - sigmaprimus 7y ago
    Yes I did read it all, like I said the title is a quite click baity. As far sharing data with people(or other lifeforms) 10k years from now,that is an entirely different problem than "How to store data forever". I'm not saying I have the answer to your title or the other problem, both good questions that I wish I did have answers to. I believe that the voyager team created a golden record as they faced a simmilar communication/interpretation issue. Another "out there" idea that might solve the problem would be attaching a transmitter to a comet with a regular and frequent orbit, possibly Halley's comet which returns every 75 years, it is a short enough duration that the technology should still be available to receive the data. The comet idea would work well in preventing future generations from corrupting the data. Eg history is written by the victors of war. Other than those ideas, short of creating a religion I cant see too many ways to store data forever and keep it useful and uncorrupted. Which is kind of too bad and "too good to be true too!" as per my original comment! ;)

7 points by janvdberg 7y ago

I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed but I read this hoping to find a permanent storage solution, after all thats what the title says. If it's too good to be true it probably is. I suppose etched gold laminated in glass (simlar to plastic laser discs) might provide a very long term storage solution with high enough data density for the current times. Other than that I can only think of punch cards which dont have the density for a current long term storage schemes. I have heard murmurs of some sort of genetic engineering system that theoretically allows for the storage of data in a GMO plant that could in theory last forever. Maybe some sort of space radio telescope system that bounces back signals? Anyone else know of a way, or have an outside the box idea to store data for a very very long time?

ddevault 7y ago
Author here. The problem is, on a long enough time scale, you don't just need your data to be intact - you need it to be interpretable and relevant, too. How would you communicate with someone 10,000 years in the future? I did address this in my article: the answer is, you need a real life chain of human beings between you and there which is maintianing the data to ensure it is understandable and useful.
- sigmaprimus 7y ago
  Yes I did read it all, like I said the title is a quite click baity. As far sharing data with people(or other lifeforms) 10k years from now,that is an entirely different problem than "How to store data forever". I'm not saying I have the answer to your title or the other problem, both good questions that I wish I did have answers to. I believe that the voyager team created a golden record as they faced a simmilar communication/interpretation issue. Another "out there" idea that might solve the problem would be attaching a transmitter to a comet with a regular and frequent orbit, possibly Halley's comet which returns every 75 years, it is a short enough duration that the technology should still be available to receive the data. The comet idea would work well in preventing future generations from corrupting the data. Eg history is written by the victors of war. Other than those ideas, short of creating a religion I cant see too many ways to store data forever and keep it useful and uncorrupted. Which is kind of too bad and "too good to be true too!" as per my original comment! ;)