History Main / DataCrystal

* In post ''InfiniteCrisis'' ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' stories, Superman's Fortress of Solitude uses sunstone crystals to work his computer. This was taken from the ''Superman'' films (see below).

Data Crystals often double as video recorders and {{Hologram}} emitters, allowing owners to record, store and project their home movies. Because PowerGlows, these Data Crystal hologram projectors can often even do without an external power source.

* Used ubiquitously in Creator/AndreyLivadny's ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series, mostly by humans. Some aliens use them as well. The ones that bear special attention are the logrs, small jewel-like crystals invented by the [[StarfishAliens Logrians]] that are, actually, self-contained computers powerful enough to be able to store a sentient being's mind and allow the individual to live on in a virtual world. The functionality of logrs can be expanded by connecting several logrs together in a particular configuration. The largest collection of the logrs is the Logris, a gigantic supercomputer visually similar to the [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Crystalline_Entity Crystalline Entity]] from ''StarTrek''. Many of the logrs that compose the Logris actually contain personalities of dead Logrians, and more and more human logrs are being added to it.

* ''VideoGame/ArTonelico'' has Hymn Crystals, which allows for songs (which are used as "magic" in the game) to be stored and later downloaded into Reyvateils.

* Phase Change Memory is one avenue for research into future storage tech. It's a form of memory where some reversible process is applied to a material (for example heating) in order to change the phase (the type of solid) of a specific portion of the material between a crystalline state (where the atoms form a coherent structure) and an amorphous state (where the atoms still form a solid but are all jumbled up without a discernible structure). As the crystalline and amorphous phases have different conductivities, the resistance of the treated area can be treated as a binary 1 or 0. In theory such storage devices would retain data without power and last for a very long time, as well as have very fast read times (all you have to do is feed a current through an area of the material and measure its resistance to determine binary 1 or 0). One big drawback with phase change technology is that writing is extremely slow and consumers considerable power as you need to get the material to the correct temperature to effect the state change.

* In the "Darwath Trilogy" by Creator/BarbaraHambly, the earlier human civilization that built the Keep of Dare used magitech data crystals to store information.

* In ''OrionsArm'', the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48507b746e356 "ultimate chip,"]] doesn't look like a single crystal and was originally intended for use as a processor for very advanced distributed computing, can also store massive amounts of data, and is made of [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/464b9c37d9887 diamondoid]], which ''is'' a crystal.

* In ''Film/{{Superman}}'' and ''Film/SupermanII'', Superman's Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole has a system that stores information on crystals. In SupermanReturns, it is mentioned that the crystal impressively holds 95% of Krypton's entire knowledge. [[RedHerring The remaining 5% is never mentioned again.]]

* Mocked in ''Film/StarWreck: In the Pirkenning'', where the parody of Lt. Keffer of ''Series/BabylonFive'' is shot down by the P-Fleet and his flight data recorder is recovered. Being based on ''Babylon 5'' tech, it's in the form of a data crystal, and the Sheridan-analogue briefly thinks that Keffer [[TakenForGranite was turned into a crystal by aliens]] before being corrected.

* ''WesternAnimation/ MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "The Crystal Empire", Celestia displays a crystal to Twilight that, when powered by magic, shows a hologram of the Crystal Empire and of Celstia and Luna's fight against King Sombra, the antagonist of the two-part episode.

SubTrope of PowerCrystal and MineralMacGuffin, often used by resident of CrystalSpiresAndTogas.

* The reason for this trope is because crystals have been suggested as a storage medium for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_data_storage holographic memory]].

* ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' has "[[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20090224 info points]]", though it's considered quaint.

* In ''OrionsArm'', the "[[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48507b746e356 ultimate chip]]", doesn't look like a single crystal and was originally intended for use as a processor for very advanced distributed computing, can also store massive amounts of data, and is made of [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/464b9c37d9887 diamondoid]], which ''is'' a crystal.

** [[http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-storage-update.page The University of Southampton has developed 5D data storage]]; a coin-sized glass disk that can hold ''360 TB'' for 13.8 ''billion'' years and is far more resilient than other data storage methods. Easily the closest this trope has come to TruthInTelevision.

TruthInTelevision with the fact that deep inside all of the plastic cladding, all solid-state electronic devices are based on crystalline semiconductors; also, in that a three-dimensional storage matrix should in theory, and once the engineering problems around heat dissipation and signal routing can be solved, offer orders of magnitude greater information density for a given volume than any possible refinement of the essentially two-dimensional storage methods in use today.

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* ''VideoGame/ArTonelico'' has Hymn Crystals, which allows for songs (which are used as "magic" in the game) to be stored and later downloaded into Reyvateils.

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* ''{{BIONICLE}}'': Memory Crystals.

* One of the characters in the ''WildCards'' series is Jube the Walrus. As an agent of the interstellar trading consortium known as the Network, he has advance technological devices such as recording crystals that can store information.

* TheBookOfTheNewSun: visiting a vast and decaying library, Severian is told that it contains a cube of crystal the size of the ball of one's thumb, which contains more books than the entire world. The blind librarian is no longer sure where it is, and it is questionable whether he would have a reader anyway.

* In ''Film/{{Superman}}'' and ''SupermanII'', Superman's Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole has a system that stores information on crystals. In SupermanReturns, it is mentioned that the crystal impressively holds 95% of Krypton's entire knowledge. [[RedHerring The remaining 5% is never mentioned again.]]

* ''{{Hyperdrive}}'' featured this trope being replaced by even more effective crystals (as a DVD to Blu-Ray analogue).

* A major MacGuffin in ''BattleAngelAlita: Last Order'' is an ancient computer program encoded on a crystal.

* In ''{{Smallville}}'', it was also a crystal that [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome grows into the Fortress of Solitude]]. The Fortress quickly becomes the resident DeusExMachina, for good or for worse. It has since displayed the ability to (sometimes with added crystals) clone kryptonians, remove or restore kryptonian powers and/or memories, imprison kryptonian-grade beings, open a portal to the Phantom Zone, create an eclipse, and holding information as stated above.
* ''SpaceCases'': The Android Thelma exhibited odd behavior throughout the show due to a memory crystal that Harlan accidentally damaged in the first episode. The main ship in the series, the ''Crysta'', also used similar technology.