Digital pictures and other documents could now possibly be saved for up to 1,000 years.

The three types of storing data — solid (flash drives), optical (CDs) and magnetic (hard disk drives) — don’t last forever.

BYU researchers Barry Lunt, an associate professor of information technology, and Matt Linford, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, have developed a working prototype disk and drive to more permanently store files. It took them two years to devise the disk and drive.

The reason they have been doing this research is there is no permanent way to store data. Lunt said the team has worked to invent a disk that stores data for at least 1,000 years, but it is difficult to prove.

“It’s a solution to a problem getting bigger,” Lunt said.

Agencies including the Motion Picture Studios in Hollywood, the LDS Church Genealogy Department and the Library of Congress are seeking new technology to preserve archives for centuries to come.

The model, readable in any DVD player, is not yet a mass-produced item.

Eventually the price of the device will be low enough for the consumer market. Lunt said many consumers want to pass their pictures on for generations, and the disk is a place to store pictures that aren’t printed.

Soon, Lunt is taking a sabbatical from BYU at the largest library in the world, the Library of Congress, to research a new way of storing records permanently. In conjunction with this, he will work with the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, the Vatican in Italy and Japan.

Erin Bourgeous, an IT student from Newman Lake, Wash., is a research assistant involved in testing the disks to see which disk lasts longer. Testing techniques include increasing heat and humidity, boiling in a pressure chamber and exposing the disk to light.

“It’s not so much about having a good idea,” Bourgeous said. “If it wasn’t for hard work, it wouldn’t have happened.”

In his classes, Lunt poses a question to the class: How many of you have once burned a DVD and since it has become unreadable?

About half the class raises their hands every year, Lunt said.

To further explore the nature of unreadable disks, whether it be a result of scratches, oxidation or corrosion, the research team is seeking dead disks.

People with dead disks may take them to the west lobby of the Crabtree Technology Building.

Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Apr 2009