- SPhotonix 5D memory crystal in a five-inch glass disk can reliably store up to 360TB
- Data on 5D crystals remains stable at 190oh Celsius indefinitely
- Current prototypes read data at approximately 30 MBps and write at 4 MBps
SPhotonix has launched its new 5D memory crystal, a storage medium designed for extreme longevity rather than everyday convenience.
The technology is based on fused silica glass etched with femtosecond lasers, which encodes information in microscopic structures that alter the polarization of light.
These structures store data using three spatial coordinates along with orientation and intensity, forming a 5D encoding method.
5D data encoding
The company claims it is stable even at high temperatures, with an estimated lifetime that matches the age of the universe.
Such claims are based on material science rather than real-world operational history, which remains limited.
According to SPhotonix, a single 5-inch glass drive can store up to 360TB.
SPhotonix describes its 5D memory crystal as a fused silica storage medium intended for extremely long retention periods.
The data is written using a femtosecond laser, forming nanoscale voxels whose position, orientation and intensity encode information in five dimensions.
At temperatures up to 190°C, the data is claimed to remain intact for 13.8 billion years, a figure tied to cosmological estimates rather than operational evidence.
Alternative long-term media include optical discs with a lifespan of between 5 and 100 years, and M-DISC advertises a lifespan of 1,000 years; However, no one alive today can verify this claim.
Current prototypes of the 5D memory crystal reportedly achieve write speeds of approximately 4 MB/s and read speeds of approximately 30 MB/s.
Although this is below existing file systems, SPhotonix has a roadmap that targets sustained read and write speeds of 500 MBps within three to four years.
These improvements would bring performance closer to that of tape-based archives, although the company has not demonstrated these speeds outside of controlled conditions.
Access latency expectations remain modest, with recovery times of 10 seconds or longer considered acceptable.
SPhotonix frames its technology around cold data use cases, distinguishing them from hot storage that demands sub-5ms response times, typically handled by SSD hardware.
Warm and cool levels operate between 20 ms and one second and support applications such as streaming and document access.
The company cites projections that by 2028, global data generation could reach 394 trillion zettabytes per year, of which between 60 and 80% would be classified as cold data.
This framework supports their focus on data center integration rather than consumer cloud storage.
Early price estimates for the system put the writer at around $30,000 and the reader at around $6,000. A deployable reader is expected in the field in approximately 18 months.
The company has raised $4.5 million to date and is working to move the technology from Technology Readiness Level 5 to Technology Readiness Level 6.
This transition involves validation in relevant environments rather than laboratory testing alone, a step often associated with unforeseen engineering limitations.
“Statistics show that 60 to 80 percent of all data currently stored worldwide is classified as cold data,” said Ilya Kazansky, co-founder of SPhotonix.
“However, because of the way humanity is developing, because of all the budgets and AI, etc., a lot of companies have historically said, ‘look, we’re just going to use hard drives or SSDs,’ which are expensive.”
“We believe this [5D Memory Crystal] “It’s the only way the industry will be able to scale data storage capacity given growing demand,” he said.
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