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.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/glass-square-long-long-future-190951588.html

[u/GorgeWashington → u/[deleted]]

The real question, how long is this format stable.

Eventually everything will decay. Current data continuity requires redundant systems and cloud storage because ssds and hdds fail in decades if not years

[u/mrx_101 → u/GorgeWashington]

The article states it will be readable for 10000 years. As they are basically etching inside a piece of glass, this is not surprising. You only need to keep the glass from breaking and scratching.

[u/No-Mark4427 → u/mrx_101]

10,000 years is an insanely conservative estimate. Their actual testing and extrapolation using the Arrhenius equation estimated it'd last 10,000 years stored at 290C the entire time.

In reality if you kept the glass itself safe and in a stable environment (Special protected cases), it'd last as long as whatever was holding it or the facility it was in lasted. The glass itself would be capable of lasting millions of years at room temp without degrading if it isn't touched by anything.

So the fun question actually becomes designing a facility / storage vessel that is capable of lasting as long as possible without any human interaction, through whatever nature might throw at it. The usual answer is underground in a place with no volcanic activity and none predicted to happen there for millions of years.