Is it possible to store data on a device that guarantees it’ll remain accessible for 200 years? Machdyne UG, a German manufacturing company, has developed a solution that apparently makes it possible. The small flash drive, the Blaustahl Storage Device, promises long-term durability. However, it has a potential drawback.
A flash drive for life. The creators say they’ve designed the Blaustahl USB dongle to preserve data for over 200 years. The key to its longevity lies in temperature control: If the temperature remains below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the flash drive can achieve this extended lifespan. However, if the temperature exceeds 131 degrees Fahrenheit, its durability is reduced to 95 years.
A longer lifespan than SSDs and conventional USBs. SSDs and conventional USB drives usually have an estimated average lifespan of 16 to 20 years. However, the Blaustahl Storage Device uses ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM), which extends its lifespan even further.
Long live the write cycles. The USB flash drive technology used in the Blaustahl dongle offers benefits such as high write speed, a large number of read/write cycles (up to 10^12 cycles at 185 degrees Fahrenheit), and low power consumption.
Limited storage. The device has a major limitation–its capacity is only 8 KB. This means it’s best suited for storing very small amounts of data that need to be kept for a long time.
Digital time capsule. The Blaustahl Storage Device is perfect for securely storing important passwords, cryptocurrency keys, and personal notes. In case you’re interested, you can buy it for about $33 (€29.95).
A built-in text editor. One interesting feature of the Blaustahl Storage Device is its built-in text editor, which users can access using emulators like PuTTy and Tera Term.
Surprise, surprise–there’s a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU inside.
One last surprise. Besides using ferroelectric RAM, the device is equipped with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller featuring a Dual Cortex-M0+ CPU running at 133 MHz and 264 KB of SRAM memory. Interestingly, the chip integrates a 4 MB NOR flash memory for the firmware, which is more powerful than the flash drive itself. This memory isn’t available for storing regular data, though, making it rather ironic.
Image | Machdyne UG
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