HD-Rosetta

A few weeks back, there was a discussion about long term media storage, and the problems with digital media only lasting a few years, and then becoming unstable. The New York Times decided to do a time capsule, but didn't want it dug up for 1000, (yes, that’s one thousand!) years! They had a fascinating article in their magazine on how they planned to accomplish this grand task, and all the complications involved. One of the problems they came across was the CD ROM digital disintegration problem. Their experts decided to revert to analog storage for the media they wanted to put in their capsule.

The company that helped them with media storage is Norsam Technologies. Their solution is something they call the HD-ROSETTA Disc. Using Norsams Ion beam system, images and full pages of text are etched into a metal disc. The durability tests show that the data remains on the disc at temps up to 300 Degrees C. Also, it withstood saltwater testing. The disc Data can be "eye readable" with a Lupe or magnifying glass, or you can put as many as 100,000 images on one disc, and read it with a student's microscope. This reminded me of the old style Microfiche, but on metal storage discs. They don't say what the cost is but I’m trying to determine this.

Offered by Brent.