Humanity is one-step closer to the Isolinear/Optolythic Data Rod!

[Kamen Rider Blade]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...t-silica-offers-robust-thousand-year-storage/

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Isolinear_rod
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Optolythic_data_rod

One day, we'll be able to read / write those suckers at high speed.

 

[NCC-73515]

Reminds me of
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Data_module

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Reminds me of
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Data_module

That is eerily close in concept.

 

[Henoch]

I think they become colored data tapes/discs in TOS:

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

If it's just Tape / Discs, we already have similar solutions to that right now.

 

[Henoch]

If it's just Tape / Discs, we already have similar solutions to that right now.

But do they last thousands of years?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

But do they last thousands of years?

Magnetic Tape lasts about 25 years.

Blu-Ray Optical Discs that use the original Non-Organic Dyes are rated for ~100 years by the manufacturer, but most testing / smart people rate them for 50 years.
50 GB BD-R DL (Dual Layers) are the cheapest cost per GiB I can find right now.

M-Disc is claimed to be good for 1000 years, but I wouldn't trust their marketing. 100 years at best. However they are WAY over priced.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

M-Disc is claimed to be good for 1000 years, but I wouldn't trust their marketing. 100 years at best. However they are WAY over priced.

 

[at Quark's]

I believe there have been several attempts in the last 25 years to create digital storage media that are extremely durable. Which would be a good thing because the idea that even our best digital media are only good for a few decades is scary. Let's see which of these approaches ultimtely becomes practical enough for mass use.

 

[Roundabout]

On a slightly tangential matter, has it gotten to the point where images or video can be created on a data rod that seem so convincingly genuine that an expert user couldn't tell if the video stored on the rod is a faaaaaaaake?

Was "In the Pale Moonlight" prescient regarding that aspect of the story, the creation of a fake holo recording stored in a optolythic data rod? In the real world, there are deepfakes out there that are created for sinister purposes.

 

[David cgc]

^Certainly part of it was, that to be even remotely convincing, the rod used had to be a restricted government-issue model that was write-once (a practice specifically meant to prevent what Sisko was attempting). As simulations and fakes become more convincing, I'd expect chain-of-custody verifying technologies and trusted sources to become vital to preventing the spread of misinformation and hoaxes.

 

[publiusr]

Some other data disks

First at bat: http://longnow.org/
https://rosettaproject.org/blog/02008/aug/20/very-long-term-backup/
https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/16/11018018/5d-data-storage-glass
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/520541/million-year-data-storage-disk-unveiled/
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/92286-m-disc-is-a-dvd-made-out-of-stone-that-lasts-1000-years

 

[Mytran]

As far as ITPM is concerned; despite Sisko and Garak's absolute best efforts, the Romulans still detected the recording as a fake within a very short period of time.

The implication is that as believable as deepfakes continue to get, the forensic techniques with continue to match them.

 

[SoM]

As far as ITPM is concerned; despite Sisko and Garak's absolute best efforts, the Romulans still detected the recording as a fake within a very short period of time.

Was it the "best efforts"? Not to go all Timo, but Sisko had no idea about how any of it worked or (beyond his judgement of the holo-acting) how plausible it was. He was trusting Garak to do it right and have picked someone who could do it. And Garak picked Tolar as much for his expendability as for his talents, knowing that he probably couldn't pull it off. ("I did have hopes that the rod would somehow pass inspection, but I suspected that Tolar may not have been up to the task.")

He had, after all, planted the bomb before the Romulans had even examined the rod let alone pronounced it fake. And probably killed Tolar even before that, at the first opportunity after the program was encoded onto the rod ("Now why don't you go back to your quarters? I'll be along shortly to say, 'hello'.").