One of the world's largest HDD makers is investing in exotic storage that can store hundreds of terabytes of data on a thumbnail-size drive

Western Digital has invested in Cerabyte, a startup developing data storage technology using ceramic nanolayers. The system inscribes data onto ceramic with lasers, providing petabyte to exabyte-scale storage without power or maintenance needs. This technology offers an immutable record lasting thousands of years, avoiding bit rot. Western Digital joins Pure Storage and In-Q-Tel as investors. Cerabyte aims to scale from a 1PB rack pilot to 100PB by 2030, with improved access times and throughput.