Some cultures used stone, others used parchment. Some even, for a time, used floppy disks. Now scientists have come up with a new way to keep archived data safe that, they say, could endure for millennia: laser-writing in glass.

From personal photos that are kept for a lifetime to business documents, medical information, data for scientific research, national records and heritage data, there is no shortage of information that needs to be preserved for very long periods of time.

But there is a problem: current long-term storage of digital media – including in datacentres that underpin the cloud – relies on magnetic tape and hard disks, both of which have limited lifespans. That means repeated cycles of copying on to new tapes and disks are required.

Now experts at Microsoft in Cambridge say they have refined a method for long-term data storage based on glass.

“It has incredible durability and incredible longevity. So once the data is safely inside the glass, it’s good for a really long time,” said Richard Black, the research director of Project Silica.