5D optical data storage

5D optical data storage, also known as Superman memory crystal, is a new and experimental way to save digital data. It uses a special glass and fast laser called a femtosecond laser to write information inside the glass.^[1]

Example of 5D optical data storage disc for movie storage.

A disc made with this technology can store a huge amount of data. At its largest size (12 cm), one disc could hold up to 360 terabytes of data.^[2][3]The data could last for billions of years, because glass is very stable and does not break down easily.^[4][5]Scientists first showed that this idea works in 2013.^[6][7][8]Companies like Hitachi and Microsoft have also studied glass data storage.^[9][10] Microsoft’s research is called Project Silica.^[11][12]

Naming

Normal storage, like paper or tape, only uses two dimensions (flat surface). 5D storage uses two optical features (how light behaves), and three spatial positions (where the data is inside the glass). The five features together are called the five dimensions, creating the name "5D data crystal".^[2][13]

Uses

In 2018, Professor Peter Kazansky used this technology to store the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov. The disc was sent into space inside Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, as part of the Arch Mission Foundation project.^[14][15]

In 2024, Kazansky’s team stored the entire human genome, which has three billion characters, onto a coin-sized 5D disc. It includes pictures that explain how to read it. It is now kept in the Memory of Mankind archive, deep inside a salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria.^[16]

In July 2025, the company Good Old Games, working with SPhotonix, stored the video game Heroes of Might and Magic III on a 5D crystal. This was the first video game ever preserved using this technology.^[17][18]

See also

• Data store – A place where data is collected, stored and managed for easy use.