Dna unit, the future of information storage

Currently, there are many projects open to create new Data Storage Units. There are projects that work with Quartz Crystals that offer 360TB in a longevity of 13.8 billion years. Today I will tell you about the last experiment carried out with a much stranger material.

What do we look for in a Storage Unit?

Who remembers that CD tub furniture in our homes? In my house I had a cabinet with 27 Tubs with 50 DVDs of 5 GB Approx. A total of almost 7TB in a cabinet with 0.2 m ³ that after a few years were unreadable (by the way of storing them). Today, a few cm ³ SSD stores that same amount and even more. The Amount of Memory, the Real Space occupied and the Longevity of the data being readable are the three characteristics when it comes to a Storage Unit.

DNA, the future of Storage.

If, as you have read, among the many materials that are being used to create efficient Units (efficiently replacing what we have talked about previously) DNA is among them. A Research Team at New York Genome University has designed a mechanism capable of storing 215 PB (1PB = 1024TB) in 1 gram of DNA.

These researchers have designed an algorithm that can use DNA storage almost entirely with the four basic nucleotides without the danger of losing any information. In the experiment they stored 6 files inside the DNA:

• An Operating System. A French Movie. A € 50 Amazon Card. A Computer Virus. A Pioneer License Plate. A Study of the Information Theorist Claude Shannon.

The procedure tries to convert the binary code to generic code and then a company will synthesize the DNA according to the generated generic code. With these procedures, they created 72, 000 DNA strands and after two weeks with a Software that translates the genetic code of the synthesized molecule into binary code, they managed to create all the data without errors.

We recommend reading our guide on the best SSDs.

This experiment cost almost 10, 000 euros to synthesize the DNA and read it. This should not disappoint us, because these experiments look for the best possible results. Once they have this technology mastered, they will look for ways to make them cheaper and reach the markets. As they happened with the SSD.

Do you think that in 10 or 20 years our PCs will have Units made up of DNA replacing our Hard Drives? I think so, and not only the Storage Unit, but also RAM and other types of Memory. But sure

Source: omicrono