Cybertronian data cylinder

Several dozen Cybertronian data cylinders were created in the Golden Age of Cybertron to store the accumulated knowledge of Cybertronian society. The cylinders house the information in the form of living data stored as energy. The cylinders are organized by topic. The cylinders are equipped with a self defense mechanism designed to prevent non-Cybertronians from accessing the knowledge. However, since they were created before the Great War, they do not distinguish between Autobots and Decepticons.

Known data cylinder topics:
 * Stellar cartography
 * Medicine
 * Ancient mythology
 * Synthetic Energon
 * Law enforcement

Prime cartoon
In the distant past, the Autobots dispersed the data cylinders across the galaxies in order to keep the information from the Decepticons.

In the present day, a cylinder was discovered on Earth by both the Autobots and Decepticons residing there. A skirmish broke out over the cylinder between Optimus Prime's scouting party and a group of Decepticons. Optimus Prime called in Bulkhead for reinforcements. Miko was bored so she followed Bulkhead through the GroundBridge to watch the action.

Once there, Miko noticed the data cylinder was unguarded during the fight. She attempted to push the large cylinder into a GroundBridge, but only succeeded in setting off the cylinder's alien defense mechanism. Bulkhead had fallen in front of the cylinder just as it was beaming the information out, transferring the data to Bulkhead's brain. The Decepticons managed to escape with the cylinder, not realizing it was empty until they were back on the Nemesis.

The data in Bulkhead's brain threatened to take over his mind, so Optimus Prime opened negotiations with Megatron for the data cylinder thinking it was the only way to save Bulkhead. During the negotiations, the Decepticons discovered Bulkhead off on his own. Megatron crushed the cylinder since they thought they could get the information directly from Bulkhead. However, the data the cylinder had once contained once again was expelled from its container in battle, this time beaming off into the depths of space, likely never to be recovered.

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon
A data cylinder was stored aboard the Alchemor. At Grimlock's request, Fixit used it to oversee the administration of a Cybertronian law enforcement exam. Unfortunately, something went wrong when Grimlock tried to download a study guide, which wound up transferring everything in the cylinder into his brain. The knowledge almost overwrote his personality and fighting skills, putting him at a disadvantage as the Autobots battled Simacore. Fixit managed to come up with a solution, safely removing the data from the Dinobot's cortex.

They seriously need to put some better safety measures on these things.