Microsoft recently released a new paper at the 29th ACM Operating System Principles Symposium. This paper introduces the principles behind the Microsoft research team's plan to use quartz glass to store data and build a durable and efficient storage system. It should be noted that using quartz glass to store data is not Microsoft’s hot-headed idea. This project code-named Project Silica has been brewing for many years. Microsoft showed a prototype as early as 2019. Now that the new paper is released, it seems that this new system will be online.
The principle of quartz glass storing data:
According to Microsoft, storing data in quartz glass is somewhat similar to optical discs. Both use lasers to write data to the media. However, unlike traditional optical discs, the Microsoft research team's technology can store data in multiple layers in quartz glass.
It uses a femtosecond laser (1 femtosecond = 10 to the power of minus 15 seconds or 1/1,000,000,000,000,000 seconds) to write data into a square glass disk. This is a permanent modification of the quartz glass layer and can write multiple bits of data in layers on the glass surface before stacking the glass into hundreds of layers.
To read the data, you need to use polarizing microscopy technology to image the glass disc, and at the same time read the sector in a zigzag pattern. The image will be processed and decoded by the system, and then rely on a machine learning model to convert the analog model into digital data.
Advantages of quartz glass for data storage:
The most important thing is safety. The main component of quartz is silicon, and its chemical properties are very stable, so the stored data can be preserved for a long time. The most important thing is that when using a laser to write data, it makes permanent changes to the disc. You can write the data once and then read it, but if you want to modify it, it is impossible unless you change the disc.
Therefore, it can be used to store critical data in fields such as finance, scientific research, and medical care. There is no need to worry about ransomware for this data. After all, hackers cannot crawl along the network cable to the data center and destroy the glass disk.
Microsoft is currently exploring how to configure the physical library that stores glass based on Microsoft Azure cloud storage usage patterns. At that time, Azure customers can be the first to experience saving data on glass.