One day we will have one giga terra bit thumb drives.
What I would put on there I have no idea but we will have them.
IBM shows data storage at the atomic level (images)
by ZDNet Author | January 12, 2012 11:10am PST | Image 1 of 6
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Today, IBM announced that it has found a way to store data at the atomic level. Researchers at Big Blue demonstrated that they can hold on to a bit of data with just 12 magnetic atoms. Today's disk drives require as much as 1 million atoms to store a bit.
This is a magnetic byte comprised of eight bits.
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@MoeFugger - Well I remember back when the clerk laughed at me when I ordered the optional 20MB hard drive on my first computer saying "what on earth could you possibly need a 20MB hard drive for".
Well, I had the same experience...a HUGE 10Mb hard drive on an IBM clone....whewww....how far we have progressed....
@jefferyshall Showing my age here, but I used to run a university data center on a PDP 11 with a pair of 5MB RK05F disks, and that was enough space for the Operating system (RSTS-E) and dozens of students and staff users!!
@MoeFugger
But to have the OS and dozens of users meant the code was tight, perhaps machine code or assembly level code. I remember when I wrote my first program in mBasic (cp/m). It was well under 1k. After I got my hands on a basic compiler it was 10k. Sheesh. The more we get the more we want. All that space.
But to have the OS and dozens of users meant the code was tight, perhaps machine code or assembly level code. I remember when I wrote my first program in mBasic (cp/m). It was well under 1k. After I got my hands on a basic compiler it was 10k. Sheesh. The more we get the more we want. All that space.
@Ram@... My first computer was a Commodore PET 2001 with 8K. That was enough to calculate Pi to 1,000 decimals, and I didn't even know assembler at the time. I long for those days. We wrote programmes that worked, were reliable, efficient and didn't crash.
For the rest, I have well over 2 TB of data on my harddisks and several TB of data on hundreds of DVDs. I am longing for the PB flash memories!
For the rest, I have well over 2 TB of data on my harddisks and several TB of data on hundreds of DVDs. I am longing for the PB flash memories!
@MoeFugger
Office 2016, blank word doc (*.docxyzpdq) = 37.5 MB. That will fill up your drive
Office 2016, blank word doc (*.docxyzpdq) = 37.5 MB. That will fill up your drive
I'm not very tech literate but won't this magnitude of data density drive ever wider data paths and processor capability.
...now we have a medium that's so precise, that random cosmic rays/particles smashing into it might corrupt my data. Oy. Guess the hard drives will have to be lead-lined.
@Zorched
Well maybe that's what we can do with all that "cheap" space that we don't really need. If such an event does happen regularly, what are the probabilities? Then the question becomes: how much redundancy do we need to build into this to keep the failure rate above water? Or what's better than lead? Maybe a novel nano-structure that prevents many of these random collisions.
Well maybe that's what we can do with all that "cheap" space that we don't really need. If such an event does happen regularly, what are the probabilities? Then the question becomes: how much redundancy do we need to build into this to keep the failure rate above water? Or what's better than lead? Maybe a novel nano-structure that prevents many of these random collisions.
@trefrog With all of that room for data storage, there's more room for checksums and ECCs (error-correcting codes).
I remember hearing the exact same argument back in the 90s. Folks were swearing that subatomic particle decay in the substrates would limit RAM chips to 16 MB or so.
Realizing full well that this truly BREAK THROUGH technology is in its infancy, It will be very interesting to follow this accomplishment with more info as it becomes available; what is the substrate / medium? How fast can it be "switched"? How much energy is required to 'change' a bit? What about heat output?
VERY IMPRESSIVE INDEED! Congratulations to IBM Reasearchers!
VERY IMPRESSIVE INDEED! Congratulations to IBM Reasearchers!
Hmmm...seems like I remember a somewhat similar image from the 70's (?) showing copper(?) atoms lined up saying something like "IBM". Or was that only a dream?
@dlmohn I was thinking of that too. They were demonstrating how IBM had developed a means to move and arrange individual atoms. The photo is on this page - https://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/nanoquest/atom_manipulation/
@boomchuck1 Thanks for the link. So apparently this isn't news.
Reporting the current status and remaining technical challenges (timeframe) to commercialization would be more useful. Great potential and kudos to IBM nonetheless.
Reporting the current status and remaining technical challenges (timeframe) to commercialization would be more useful. Great potential and kudos to IBM nonetheless.
@boomchuck1 - thanks for that reference. It has always amazed me how IBM has stayed committed to fundamental research for all these years. Here we are 'seeing' their latest result but viewing it through a microscopy technique that came out of IBM research efforts decades ago!
@boomchuck1 Nice link...
The technology behind the technique has changed considerably though. Each image in the photos is taken by a TEM (Tunneling Electron Microscope). This is the device that was originally used to create the early samples.
A TEM consists of a needle usually made of silicon thats so sharp it has only a single atom at its tip. When the tip is brought near enough to another single atom, the electrons holding it together pull on the single atom on the tip, creating a tiny change in the magnetic field in the tip that can be read by sensors.
When the early clumsy versions of TEMs were built, it was common for an overzealous adjustment to 'crash' the read-head into the sample, ruining it by scraping off sample atoms that then stuck magnetically to the read-head. Researchers discovered it was possible to fine-tune the process so that a single atom could be picked up and then dropped again, and the world was told that the 'Philosopher's Stone' had been found: Gold for example could be made by rearranging atoms - although the process would have to be automated and sped up thousands of times before atomic-scale material production could be a reality.
It never happened; we still cannot mass-manufacture materials on an atomic scale, but the tech has been developed to give us the capability to directly build sub-nanoscale assemblies, without using crude macro-scale techniques like masking and etching, sputtering and vacuum deposition to manipulate materials.
Kudos to IBM I suppose for finding a real-world application, where most nanoscale work is still playing with molecules to construct miniature versions of larger mechanisms - levers, actuators, molecular zips and the like.
The technology behind the technique has changed considerably though. Each image in the photos is taken by a TEM (Tunneling Electron Microscope). This is the device that was originally used to create the early samples.
A TEM consists of a needle usually made of silicon thats so sharp it has only a single atom at its tip. When the tip is brought near enough to another single atom, the electrons holding it together pull on the single atom on the tip, creating a tiny change in the magnetic field in the tip that can be read by sensors.
When the early clumsy versions of TEMs were built, it was common for an overzealous adjustment to 'crash' the read-head into the sample, ruining it by scraping off sample atoms that then stuck magnetically to the read-head. Researchers discovered it was possible to fine-tune the process so that a single atom could be picked up and then dropped again, and the world was told that the 'Philosopher's Stone' had been found: Gold for example could be made by rearranging atoms - although the process would have to be automated and sped up thousands of times before atomic-scale material production could be a reality.
It never happened; we still cannot mass-manufacture materials on an atomic scale, but the tech has been developed to give us the capability to directly build sub-nanoscale assemblies, without using crude macro-scale techniques like masking and etching, sputtering and vacuum deposition to manipulate materials.
Kudos to IBM I suppose for finding a real-world application, where most nanoscale work is still playing with molecules to construct miniature versions of larger mechanisms - levers, actuators, molecular zips and the like.
now we can have 100 PetaByte hard disks..........
on same place and size of 1TeraByte hard disks........
this is truely more data which can help evolve software fields like games,OS's,UI etc
also now we need processors of such kind.
on same place and size of 1TeraByte hard disks........
this is truely more data which can help evolve software fields like games,OS's,UI etc
also now we need processors of such kind.
@virajith pro I recall in the early 90s when I was installing Advanced NetWare 386 networks I would read how it could support gigabytes of data and memory. I shook my head and wondered why they would bother with such ridiculous numbers. That 70mb hd I was installing ($700) was more space than anyone could possibly ever use! Who could have imagined the advancements that brought us to where I carry 8gb storage in my pocket and people install 3tb drives in their home computer? We can thank people like the folks at IBM for advancing the technology up to this point and just stare in wonder at new innovations that can only hint at the future.
@boomchuck1 i go back to the days of Tape storage, 8inck single sided floppy disk's and using various different ways to code and store data on different os driven computers. Now the computer of if you prefer the tablet's are the thing. My grand daugher at 4yrs age is perfectly comfortable manipulating touch driven computers (hp Touchsmart) or any variety and type of touch screen tablets, makes no difference what OS is used to her.
I am not even amazed anymore by the advances the industry has made. My father used punch card tech I use touch screen , it is LOL Amazing LOL in the times pan of 50 years in my case from mechanical adding machines to This technology.
I am not even amazed anymore by the advances the industry has made. My father used punch card tech I use touch screen , it is LOL Amazing LOL in the times pan of 50 years in my case from mechanical adding machines to This technology.
Bloatware becomes a necessity. A "crash" might involve a small mushroom cloud. As an implant, it'll replace brain functions until your eyes turn bright blue; a bad sign. Your computer sees "The Forbin Project" and goes looking for some new friends. You now literally know everything but no longer care. Offers of upgrades go unanswered. Your genome is on a chip and you Doctor is labeled "Made in China". Your toaster can talk to you but answers every question with "Want toast?". The good old days had moving parts.
@deusexmachina????
Heisenberg took Clozapine and all his data disappeared.
Heisenberg took Clozapine and all his data disappeared.
@trm1945
I don't think you'll have the same problem.
I don't think you'll have the same problem.
Two words: "nudged quanta".
http://home.comcast.net/~bcleere/texts/draper.html
http://home.comcast.net/~bcleere/texts/draper.html
WOW, a 60 word article.
No wait, there's MULTI-PAGES.
I don't click them stink'n multi-page articles anymore.
Stop wasting my time or PAY ME!
No wait, there's MULTI-PAGES.
I don't click them stink'n multi-page articles anymore.
Stop wasting my time or PAY ME!
Chalk another win up for Arthur C. Clarke. In 1987 he wrote, in 2061: Odyssey 3, about the "Molecular Memory Module". That man was a genius.
The point is - it's IBM that pulls and holds the most research patents every year - IBM - the so-called stodgy old company - is and continues to be the greatest asset in the US arsenal of economic prosperity. This breakthrough and so many others (like Watson perhaps?) is what a yearly multi-billion dollar research budget can do in the hands of IBM Fellows in Science and Engineering. Intel, Microsoft et al will be gone as a market force soon - replaced by Apple, Google and IBM.
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