The same information stored digitally on CDs would create a stack of discs that would reach beyond the moon, according to the researchers.

BBC: Global data storage calculated at 295 exabytes

Or the serendipity of coming across that one vitally important nugget of information you know is buried somewhere in your stack of unread papers.

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If the 295 trillion megabytes (or, exabytes) of stored information were saved on CD-ROMs, the stack of CDs would stretch from the Earth to beyond the moon, according to Hilbert and Lopez.

FORBES: Study Estimates Global Capacity to Store, Communicate and Process Data