Tag Archives: data storage

Microsoft’s Project Silica glass storage system looks right out of sci-fi

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Storing massive amounts of data in the modern world is a lot more complicated and expensive than it would seem, given the persistence of the internet, which now dates back almost 40 years. Hard disk drives are relatively easy to break due to regular usage, and they only last an average of five years before becoming inoperable – making the information stored within disappear forever. Keeping the internet alive over the years requires a ton of electricity, and not just in terms of manufacturing and shipping new storage drives. Simply operating the massive arrays of computers where data is stored creates a tremendous carbon footprint, contributing significantly to climate destruction.

Microsoft’s Project Silica wants to solve one piece of that puzzle: data archival. The team behind Project Silica has been busy figuring out how to archive impressive quantities of data away in a physical vault that requires minimal amounts of electricity to maintain. In the automated vault, shelves of individual glass sheets storing up to 7 terabytes each (that’s over 1.75 million songs, according to Microsoft) are accessible by robotic servos that can track down a given sheet, then bring it back to a physical reader that transmits the data inside over the cloud. The only catch: once data is written to a glass sheet, that sheet can never be written over again.

Designer: Microsoft

An “ultrafast femtosecond laser” modifies the shape of the glass plates as it writes, storing information in voxels – 3D pixels that can store volumetric information. These voxels are encoded into the body of the glass, and can only be read with a quick-moving microscope that works similarly to a CD or DVD reader albeit at a much larger scale. Somewhere between those two interactions, robotic servos shuffle up and down steel rows, storing data away on shelves that look straight out of the Minority Report.

The entire four-step process is powered by Microsoft Azure AI, which makes sense given how complex it must be to make a foolproof automated system integrating digital and physical interactions, which is exactly what’s going on inside of the Project Silica library. Its robotic servos “climb the shelves, fetch the glass, and then zip back to the reader” before stopping to self-charge.

Each glass slab is designed to last for 10,000 years, which is evidently twice as long as it’s been since humanity’s oldest recorded writing was created about 5000 years ago. Even more shockingly, the entire library is “passive, with no electricity in any of the storage units” according to Microsoft.

Elire is already collaborating with Project Silica to store music in the Global Music Vault, but the technology isn’t quite ready for widespread use. Microsoft says there are about “3-4 more developmental stages” before these glass-based libraries become the norm for long-term data storage on a commercial level, but the benefits are clear. Project Silica could represent a massive step forward in minimizing humanity’s carbon footprint while ensuring its achievements live on through the ages.

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This odd USB stick concept fits in between a laptop screen and keys so you never lose it

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Files and digital content have become so important to our lives that it’s not surprising to see workers and students carrying a USB stick with them all the time. These data storage devices are designed to be small so that they are convenient to carry around, but their size can also become their downfall. It’s almost too easy to lose them in the black holes that are our bags or to forget them at home when you urgently need to work on your project. It would be great if you have that USB flash drive always attached to your laptop, but having it jutting out on the side is an accident waiting to happen. This concept design tries to solve that problem by ingeniously making the USB stick so thin that you can sandwich it between your laptop’s screen and keyboard without worrying about breaking anything in the process.

Designer: CLAIRE + LÉA

Thanks to advancements in technology and manufacturing processes, flash storage today can be extremely thin. Unfortunately, the traditional USB connectors for these peripherals are the reason for much of their bulk, so there are some designs that shed off the metal cages that shield the USB connectors, trading protection for convenience. The Saint Antoine USB key concept design takes that idea to the extreme by flattening the accessory while also shaping it into an unusual branch-like form.

Simply having an extremely flat USB stick doesn’t exactly solve the problem mentioned earlier and even exacerbates it. It only makes the USB key harder to find and, more importantly, easier to break. What this concept does differently is to eschew the traditional rectangular form of these accessories into something that has small protrusions branching off a rather thin stem. This shape isn’t without its purpose, though, since that shape makes it possible to fit the USB key in between the keys of a laptop keyboard.

The idea behind this rather eccentric design is for the USB flash drive to rest in between specific laptop keys so that you never have to worry about losing it in transit. And since the design is so thin, it’s also safe to close the laptop lid on it since it won’t push into and puncture the screen. This way, you always have this USB key with you, ready to be used when you need it but getting out of the way when you don’t.

As interesting as the design might be, it does raise important technical and usability questions as well. Given the extremely thin shape of the chassis, there might not actually be enough room for the electronics necessary to store data. Having the USB key in between keys could also affect the typing experience, but removing it every time you need to type is also terribly inconvenient. More importantly, laptop keyboards vary from brand to brand and model to model, which means that one particular Saint Antoine shape might not fit any other laptop, making it an even more inconvenient and wasteful design.

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This external hard disk design concept puts a literal spin on the way we move data around

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We live in a data-centric civilization, where our lives, both personal and work, depend heavily on the availability of these digital artifacts. It has even come to a point that we almost always need or want to have that data with us at all times, which has given birth to cloud storage services. Even so, there remains a need for physical storage we can carry around and quickly access without being at the mercy of an Internet connection. External or portable storage is quite common, of course, but their common designs leave plenty to be desired as far as aesthetics go. While this concept does seem to sacrifice a bit of practicality for looks, it does give an interesting interpretation of our need to move data around.

Designers: Seongmin Ha, Hanyoung Lee

Portable hard drives come in low box shapes, their designs constrained by the technology they use. With the advent of solid-state technology, however, most of those restrictions have been lifted, but portable storage devices still come in almost the same form as their ancestors, only smaller. Granted, there are still some important considerations that drive the design of these gadgets, particularly compactness, portability, and durability. That doesn’t mean you can’t go wild with an idea from time to time and shake off the shackles of those limitations to create something visually interesting and still somewhat practical.

CARGO is one such design that tries to give a different interpretation to the idea of portable data storage. It uses the image of shipping containers as distinct yet interdependent units of data storage. Just like how these gigantic metal boxes are moved around constantly with their contents, so too are these cube-shaped hard drives. At the same time, however, cargo containers also have an aspect of being parts of a whole, where they would come together on a single ship, regardless of their contents or destination.

For this design concept, these elements are translated into a data server in the form of, well, a cargo ship. The different storage blocks can be moved around separately and even used on different platforms, but come together as a single data “center” when placed on that ship. The design is extremely light on technical details, non-existent, in fact, but it’s not that hard to imagine how the ship can serve as the dock for all the external drives, pun totally intended. The drives themselves connect via a USB cable, while the ship could provide a unified access point for drives that are currently connected to it.

Admittedly, CARGO doesn’t have the most convenient shape or size for a portable hard drive, more cumbersome than even the thickest external storage available in the market today. It definitely wins in terms of aesthetics, though, giving a common, mundane gadget a makeover that not only makes it look interesting but also makes a metaphor more tangible and understandable to common folk.

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How to backup your data anywhere with this tiny Synology BeeDrive data hub

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We live in a data-dependent civilization, whether it’s the “Big Data” feeding all-powerful AIs or the photos and videos that we record on our smartphones. Despite being intangible, this data still takes up space, sometimes much more than what we can afford on cloud storage. At the same time, our dependence on data means that our files aren’t just more precious than ever, they also contain more sensitive data that can be tempting to hackers from anywhere in the world. Keeping data safe, secured, and always accessible has been a never-ending puzzle to solve since the beginning of personal computing, and the data storage experts over at Synology are adding another piece to the solution that aims to make the most common backups even easier and accessible wherever you are.

Designer: Synology

Up until recently, cloud storage was hailed as the ideal solution for data backup and ubiquitous access from any device and any location. However, low Internet speeds and the always-present threat of security breaches have soured the idea, leading some people to go back to extremely basic and error-prone manual copying of files to external storage. Synology’s NAS or Network-Attached Storage products offer robust backup solutions, but their large boxes make them impossible to bring with you anywhere and are practically overkill for just small pieces of important data from your laptop or phone.

That’s why Synology designed the new BeeDrive, a data hub that’s almost as large as a tile Bluetooth tracker. Despite its small appearance, it hides a 1TB or 2TB SSD inside, the same kind of fast and reliable data storage used in many external drives these days. The BeeDrive is more than just external storage, though, since it also possesses one of Synology’s best-known features: painless backups and syncing.

Simply plug in the Synology BeeDrive to a computer, select the folders you want to backup, and let it do the rest. It will make backups every time you plug it into the same computer while making sure to store only what has changed in order to save up space. You can sync those same files on a different computer to have your important files always up-to-date on both your work and personal computers. You can even back up photos and videos from your phone, though you’ll have to connect the BeeDrive to a computer in order to use wireless data transfers.

Truth be told, the Synology BeeDrive isn’t completely original, but its small size, simple design, and ease of use make it an ideal solution for keeping your work and precious memories safe and sound. And since you don’t even need an Internet connection to make it work, you have nearly instant access to your files from anywhere, without fear of your data leaking out and being exposed for unauthorized eyes to see.

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This innovative charger can charge and backup your device at the same time

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In our computing-centric world today, there are two important things that people are concerned about: battery life and data. Mobile devices such as smartphones and even laptops need to be plugged in every so often, and the data that they store is too precious to leave up to fate. Charging and data backup, however, require two separate products, mostly because they have different requirements and goals that don’t always intersect, at least until recently. It turns out that the devices that we’d often like to charge are also the devices that need to have their data backed up regularly. Who says you can’t do both at the same time, especially with this wonder pocket-size charger that can quickly top up your device while it backs up your precious data with military-grade security.

Designer: Jacob Hsu

Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $68 (43% off). Hurry, only 9/90 left!

At first glance, you might presume that this handy block is your run-of-the-mill phone charger. But, as they say, looks can be deceiving because even as a charger, the MemKeeper is in a league of its own. Utilizing cutting-edge GaN (Gallium nitride) II technology, this tiny charger is capable of putting out 65W of power, enough for most smartphones and even some laptops. With two USB-C ports and a single USB-A port, MemKeeper can even charge three devices at the same time in a 30W, 18W, and 18W combination.

Military Grade Secure – MemKeeper keeps your data private and secures it with AES-256 encryption.

Massive Storage Capacities – 256GB, 512GB, and a staggering 1TB capacity – ensure effortless and seamless storage for a clutter-free and efficient digital life.

MemKeeper’s real power, however, is hidden in what it can do behind the scenes while your device is still charging. Once plugged in, the charger also functions as a secure data storage solution, automatically backing up the connected device’s data into its built-in storage, available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities. Every time you charge, you are ensuring that your phone’s or tablet’s data is also safe and sound and free from the whims and costs of cloud storage.

Simply connect it to your phone, launch the mSync app, and enter a unique PIN for rock-solid security.

Make a switch and transfer your valuable memories to a new smart device with ease!

MemKeeper’s backup feature is more than just a convenient portable drive. For one, it uses AES-256 encryption, one of if not the strongest encryption standards used in the industry today. Using the mSync app, you can set a unique PIN so that you and only you can access the secured files stored within. You can even store data for up to 32 different devices, whether it’s iOS or Android, on a single MemKeeper, and it will know which encrypted backup belongs to which device. Worried that someone will accidentally back up their device just because they borrowed your charger? MemKeeper is smart enough to back up only authorized devices, so don’t hesitate to introduce your friends to the wonders of MemKeeper.

The backup solution lets you secure data from a whopping 32 mobile devices on a single MemKeeper.

The charger and backup solution in one is also smart in other ways. It can automatically pause the process when you unplug your device and then pick up where it left off the next time you charge. It also automatically detects duplication so your storage won’t fill up with more than one copy of a file. Free yourself from the insecurities of backup service and always have your data within reach with the smart, secure, and fast-charging MemKeeper, only $109 for 1TB of encrypted storage ($39 for 256GB, $69 for 512GB).

Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $68 (43% off). Hurry, only 9/90 left!

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TerraMaster delivers a sleek, easy-to-use data storage solution for modern homes

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We live in a world that revolves around information, particularly information stored as electronic data. From the files we use at work to the photos we use to record our memories, we accumulate and use a ton of data that can easily outgrow the common 2TB hard drives available on the market. In our homes alone, we have photos, videos, music, and other files that we need to keep safe and have quick access to, sometimes from different devices. Products like USB flash drives can no longer keep up with our growing collections and needs. That’s why there has been a surge in data storage solutions like NAS or Network Attached Storage products, and TerraMaster, one of the leading brands in that market, just dropped two new options designed to accommodate all your data needs at home and then some.

Designer: TerraMaster

Truth be told, NAS boxes won’t fit the bill of designer products, and that’s not exactly surprising. Their designs are more utilitarian than anything, preferring to err on the side of usability and efficiency rather than aesthetics. That’s not to say, however, that the new TerraMaster F4-223 and F2-223 are nothing to look at because their sharp metal bodies and compact designs are exactly what make them ideal for use at home and home offices.

The aluminum chassis of these two NAS solutions give them a certain luster that makes them fit with the rest of your silver-coated computer accessories, like your monitor or laptop. Although it isn’t bereft of some accents and branding marks, its design is pretty spartan and minimalist. Everything you see exists to serve a practical purpose rather than just being eye candy. The panels in front, for example, aren’t just for show and make it trivial to access the drive bay inside by simply lifting up the corresponding cover.

Everything about the F4-223 and F2-223 is designed for ease of use. You don’t need tools to attach or remove a drive, not even a screwdriver, reducing the downtime needed to add storage or replace corrupted drives. Although you might need tools to access the innards of the NAS, you can still easily upgrade the RAM or add an SSD cache to speed things up. Considering these products are made to last a long time, the ability to upgrade certain specs definitely helps in prolonging their use.

Of course, a NAS isn’t just a glorified external data storage, and TerraMaster equipped these two new products with its best hardware and software. NAS boxes are practically computers in their own right, and these two are no exception. Especially with the new TerraMaster OS or TOS 5.0 and TRAID functionality. Whether you’re simply storing file backups, using it as your home media center, or hosting your own private cloud and photo management solution, the TerraMaster F4-223 and F2-223 promise a stress-free solution that will look good on your desk or in any corner of the room.

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OWC Envoy Pro Mini storage drive offers desktop-class speed and performance

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250GB OWC Envoy Pro Mini Design

They say cloud storage should be a standard now, but there are instances when a physical hard drive is still needed. Of course, such drives are still available in computers and laptops but to be sure, always have a USB or SSD drive ready when you need to transfer large and essential files.

OWC is offering a new storage drive that is very handy for everyone. The OWC Envoy Pro Mini is a pocket-sized USB-C and USB-A SSD that lets you enjoy speed and convenience. This little thing enables you to take your data with you and share it on any device like a tablet or computer. You can have the OWC Envoy Pro Mini in three different storage capacities: 1TB, 500GB, and 250GB.

Designer: OWC

250GB OWC Envoy Pro Mini Features

OWC has been offering innovative solutions to the market for over three decades now. It continues to deliver consumer-centric products and services to businesses, individuals, educators, and content professionals. The OWC Envoy Pro mini is only one of the brand’s many solutions to this data-driven world. The pocket-sized SSD is ideal for saving, transferring, and sharing audio files, photos, graphics, games, and other important data. It’s also best for when you need personal data storage or backup.

Sure, you can use the “cloud,” but it is still best you have another backup when things mess up. A backup of your backup is not too much—it’s just right, especially for those OC ones who get anxieties when files go missing. The OWC Envoy Pro mini is easily accessible as it works with most gadgets via USB and Thunderbolt. It works with most Android tablets, Surface models, Chromebooks, Macs, PCs, and iPads released in the past 15 years.

250GB OWC Envoy Pro Mini SSD

Access and transfer data speed can go up to 946MB/s. It’s also Plug and Play, so it’s really easy to use. With everything you can store in this little thing, you can do many things like launch an OS and apps on a remote device or machine. You can do business presentations and class projects, capture recordings, or watch movies saved on the OWC Envoy Pro mini.

The OWC Envoy Pro Mini is fast to consolidate files from several smaller devices into one place easily. You can also now easily migrate data and files from a computer to a new one. To improve the performance of your laptop, you can also choose to free up space by storing extra files on to the SSD.

250GB OWC Envoy Pro Mini Details

With the OWC Envoy Pro Mini, you can schedule Time Machine or File History backups, make a secondary or portable OS boot drive, and even expand the game storage of your favorite console gaming system. Feel free to start a portable Steam games library on this mini SSD for easy access.

The OWC Envoy Pro mini works with both Windows and Mac. It’s plug and play, thanks to software running in the background and doing the job for you. It’s universally compatible, versatile, and protective. Don’t be fooled by its slim form, as this pocket-sized storage is ready for game storage, sharing, and to bring you entertainment whenever, wherever.

250GB OWC Envoy Pro mini

The Envoy Pro mini comes with a safety breakaway neck lanyard, so you can bring it anywhere with you. It’s also detachable to share with other users and between devices. Its aluminum housing doesn’t heat up and keeps it calm and quiet. The 3-year OWC Limited Warranty that comes with it may be enough, but we believe the Envoy Pro mini won’t fail you.

250GB OWC Envoy Pro Mini SSD Demo

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This sleek private cloud storage device was designed as a secure means of storing your data safely!

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EtsMe is a private, electronic storage tool that transports the Cloud from the virtual ether right onto our computer desks.

Everything we might need for our digital day-to-day can be found in the cloud–those virtual hubs that store all of our digitized assets, from family photos to legal documents. Virtual by design, cloud storage systems remain within the online scope of our world, requiring only login credentials for function. One designer decided to conceptualize a physical product to represent the Cloud.

Reinterpreting cloud storage systems through a physical lens, InDare Innovation has created EtsMe, a personal and private cloud storage tool designed for the transparent age of the internet.

Accessible via smartphones, EtsMe remains in the virtual cloud realm, but its physical counterpart gives it an approachable edge that most cloud storage tools lack. Inspired by the sleek and minimalist design of contemporary internet accessories, EtsMe maintains a stainless, unadorned look with a sleek, geometric frame.

The overall look of EtsMe gives it an appearance similar to Apple concepts, making the accessory that much more consumer-friendly and versatile. InDare designed EtsMe to be reliable, quiet, and easy to set up, requiring little to no assembly prior to operation.

Additionally, a private connection is ensured through smartphone connectivity. Shaped by a sinuous covering, EtsMe plays with light and shadows to emanate different moods throughout the workday, while also evoking the product’s main privacy function.

Explaining the choice to give EtsMe a lighted, curved exterior, the team at InDare Innovation explains, “ The light escaped from the eaves of the product’s appearance responds to the needs of building a secured, private, personal powerful shelter in the transparent internet age.”

Designer: InDare Innovation

InDare looked to other modern computer appliances to achieve the sleek, minimalist look of EtsMe.

Packaged in nondescript, white boxes, EtsMe has an aesthetic akin to Apple.

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‘Unprecedented’ 3D magnetic interactions could change computing

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The field of spintronics, or spin electronics, uses an electron's spin and its magnetic movement to encode instructions and other data. It's sometimes seen as an alternative to electronics, which relies on the electron's charge to encode data. While...

Microsoft device stores digital info as DNA

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Microsoft is on its way to replacing data centers with DNA. The company and researchers from the University of Washington have successfully automated the process to translate digital information into DNA and back to bits. They now have the first, ful...