- Ewigbyte combines optical read/write drives with automated handling for large-scale files
- Data is stored on inert media designed to resist environmental degradation.
- Modular architecture allows scaling from petabytes to exabytes within deployments
European startup Ewigbyte has unveiled an exabyte-scale, zero-power file storage system, entering the same emerging category as Cerabyte’s ceramic-based data storage technology.
Each company pursues long-term, power-free data preservation, targeting hyperscalers, governments, and research institutions facing rapid file growth.
Ewigbyte relies on ultra-stable physical encryption to retain data for centuries without electricity, cooling, or periodic data migration.
Modular architecture and energy-free design
The system targets cold storage use cases where access latency matters less than durability, density and lower operating costs.
By eliminating standby power and refresh cycles, the company says the platform can reduce long-term archiving expenses compared to magnetic tape and hard drive systems.
The startup built its architecture around modular storage drives that scale from petabytes to exabytes in a single deployment.
Specialized hardware writes data to inert media that resists heat, radiation, and environmental degradation.
Once written, data remains fixed and does not require active management until recovery.
Ewigbyte combines read-write optical drives, robotic handling, and automated storage with software that integrates with object storage platforms.
Initial media designs target 10GB per tablet, with data written to both sides and local read and write speeds of about 500MB/s per head.
Through parallel operation, each machine reaches approximately 4 GB/s, while the overall performance is scaled across multiple machines.
Planned installations could run up to 100 machines at a time, supporting exabyte-scale deployments.
Ewigbyte positions its system as an alternative to both tape libraries and emerging solid-state file concepts.
Although access speeds lag behind conventional enterprise storage, the company maintains that most archive data sets have rare access and instead require durability, density, and minimal operating costs.
This approach makes the platform suitable for scientific records, cultural archives, satellite imagery, and long-term regulatory retention.
Cerabyte is pursuing a similar zero-power goal using laser-etched ceramic storage, reflecting growing interest in post-tape archiving technologies.
Ewigbyte hasn’t said whether its media composition or writing methods overlap with ceramic-based designs, limiting direct technical comparison for now.
Other efforts in this space include Microsoft Project Silica, which uses laser-encoded quartz glass to store data for decades.
SPhotonics, instead, focuses on photonics-based multilayer optical media for scalable cold storage.
The broader challenge for all of these systems lies in manufacturing scale, cost per terabyte, and ecosystem adoption.
File storage buyers tend to proceed cautiously, and technologies that claim to preserve data for several centuries often face long validation cycles.
Certification, standardization and recovery tools will likely decide which platforms will gain traction.
As data volumes continue to outpace active storage budgets, zero-power archive systems are moving from research concepts to early commercial deployment.
It’s not yet clear whether Ewigbyte or Cerabyte will reach wide-scale adoption first, but their parallel efforts point to a possible move away from tape-dominated archiving infrastructure.
Through Blocks and files
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