> Unlike marking only on the surface of a 2D piece of paper or magnetic tape, this method of encoding uses two optical dimensions and three spatial co-ordinates to write throughout the material - hence the ‘5D’ in its name.
I guess wavelength and polarization of light? (I guess I have no idea how that's even possible to encode into a crystal, but it's two optical dimensions I suppose.)
> a revolutionary data storage format that can survive for billions of years
Clearly it hasn't been verified to be able to survive for billions of years, but it is thought to be able to survive for billions of years based on extrapolation from tests done over time scales multiple orders of magnitude smaller.
Diamonds are forever, but they fare poorly when they meet a hydraulic press (source: Hydraulic Press Channel) or a chemist who wants "real diamond water" (source: NileRed).
Ummmmm.......