Data Can Be Stored On Paper Store GBs of electronic data on Paper

[OpaQue 15]

A student has developed a technique to store data on portable paper :-)

 

[Zero Ziat 0]

When I've read this I've thought "Is this a joke?"But well, seems interesting, now I can use my bathroom paper roll for other stuff than wiping!

[serverph 0]

i thought it was a joke too at first. but having gotten the chance to read the article attached, i'm pretty much impressed with the technology. i believe it will gain wide acceptance once it is available publicly -- data storage is really a big thing in this time and age, even with ordinary "computer-literate/techie" people. i just wish that there can be ways to make the data withstand the test of time. having "precious" data stored on paper is sometimes "tricky": it can get wet, it can get burned easily, it can get torn with small effort, it shrivels and get cracked with age, small pieces can be easily misplaced, and many other factors -- which can potentially make it quite problematic to restore/retrieve data stored in them. nonetheless, i suppose these can be overcome with proper care of these huge-data-carrying papers.

[BArS 0]

Great idea!!!! It's a future Now i will through my PC away

[electriic ink 1]

I had one long before this - it's called writing :)Maybe now data about life today will be stored in Records' Offices for centuries to come; historians are worried that in future times there will be no record of life today and this could be the solution. In twenty years time, when current computers become redundant and weighty and this technology doesn't cost millions to buy, we could all be walking around with data-paper in our pockets (I'm sure Hacker and Cracker are wiping their hands in glee already )

[gameratheart 0]

When I first read this, I thought OpaQue was playing a joke. But reading the attached image, my only reaction was, "Oh my god, that is such an ingenious idea that if I weren't reading it right now, I would have hardly believed it". It is just so clever and I have no doubt that it'll be the future.We just have to make sure this future is well-kept, as paper breaks or transforms rather easily, and I'd hate to lose so much data due to a small amount of damage...I'm gonna bookmark this picture so I can show it to my folks later.

Edited December 6, 2006 by gameratheart (see edit history)

[Saint_Michael 3]

Although this is a great idea, it's not really new. I read some where last years that some people were trying to develop something similar to what is mentioned in the article. I believe it was some sort of rice paper (could be the same thing). Although I haven't heard much about since then.However due to the fact that American business men are greedy I doubt their will be much of a profit to be made from this. Except for companies that store Terabytes worth of info in huge databases. although I might have missed this in the article they didn't mention the fact how hard this paper was. If you seen paper get soak you notice how quickly it gets torn apart, so the question would be how sturdy this can be due to the fact its biodegradable?

[Yacoby 0]

I though that this was a joke until I read the article, and then I though wow, such a great idea. Unfortunaly I am worried about how tough the paper is. I don't want to lose Gigabytes of data just because I dropped it in a puddle, or spilt some coffee on it.

[Kubi 0]

This just seems wierd. Paper...I don't understand how the data gets to the paper...I must read more into this. Seems like a good dea, but aren't we trying to go all electronic? Atleast that's what my school is trying to do, lol.And what if your dog eats it?

[Plenoptic 0]

That's really a neat idea. I have never heard of it beore but I like it a lot. It'll be cheaper and easier probably. I'm guessing the scanning proccess won't take all that much time hopefully you can access the stuff on the paper like a CD and not have to take it off and download it to the computer. I read most of the article. It's really cool and I can't wait until they send the technology out to the market. I'm guessing they are looking into a paper hard drive or so as well. Soon computers will be a little box.

[Kubi 0]

Actually Pleno, computers are little boxes. Apple has a computer that is no bigger then a cookie box. Can't find a picture right now, but it's there! It's like a miniture CD Drive. That has a harddrive.

[truefusion 3]

Actually Pleno, computers are little boxes. Apple has a computer that is no bigger then a cookie box. Can't find a picture right now, but it's there! It's like a miniture CD Drive. That has a harddrive.

 

It's called a Mac Mini. Probably the most affordable Mac out there today. Very good computer, for something so small.

[Voidless_Shadows 0]

Woah, now that is actually very cool, I want a paper database...Though, I'd imagine some amounts of heat would provide enough activation energy for that lovely combustion reaction to wipe it all away >.> :)It'd be cool if somebody figured out a way to keep it nice and safe...Some insulating material, a ceramics cover might work, I dunno how thick it'd have to be or how reasonable it'd be to use it...

[Avalon 1]

Haven't we had something like this before? Something called a microdot? I think this must be a joke. How would you preserve the paper? Any organic product that is biodegradable, would do exactly that, degrade and become unusable. One way to protect the paper would be to encase it in plastic. But wouldn't that go against one of his objectives, to make the paper easy to dispose of and reduce 'e-waste'?While the idea sounds neat, I can't see it being implemented in the near future.

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

The problems with this are that if it was used for record-keeping, the enviroments of the paper-discs would have to be kept within very precise conditions. Too damp and the paper either gets get or is eaten away by mold. Too dry and it could combust. If the room wasn't sealed well enough, one may find that some mouse unwittingly made a bed out of 5Tb of data or some termites have been having a million-Gigabyte lunch.It certainly does not seem like it would help the problem of current data storage methods becoming outdated. These "discs", if so they may be called (assuming they are round), could leave an even larger gap in our society's recorded history than using current methods would. Paper data would hardly stand the test of time, especially with humanity constantly pushing the world to it's enviromental limits, thanks to war technology.Another thing is wouldn't these paper data storage sheets be susceptable to ripping, wrinkling, or wearing, as normal sheets of paper are, and as someone already said, what about spills or dropping it in water?And as if that wasn't enough, couldn't one, in theory, take a high-resolution picture of one of these data sheets and then print a copy that would contain all, or at least most of, the information present? Imagine - stealing movies with a single snap of your camera.