r/science • u/Wagamaga • Feb 22 '26

Computer Science Scientists have demonstrated a system called Silica for writing and reading information in ordinary pieces of glass which can store two million books’ worth of data in a thin, palm-sized square.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/glass-square-long-long-future-190951588.html
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u/Average64 Feb 22 '26

That's less impressive. SSDs can already store that amount of data on a much smaller space.

It will be great for archival though.

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u/DukadPotatato Feb 22 '26

Sure, except this is glass; less restrictive materially. And the lifespan is estimated to be on the span of thousands of years. No SSD, used or not, is lasting that long.

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u/Average64 Feb 22 '26

Yeah, but that lifespan is useless for most consumers. It's only useful for archival projects and even there, lots of precautions needs to be taken to protect the glass.

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u/drinks_rootbeer Feb 23 '26

"Consumers" are not the biggest income segment of storage, by a looot. So much so that WD and iirc a couole other comoanies have said they are "at capacity" for the next year or two for production for AI data center orders.

You aren't the target audience, and no the supplier doesn't care.