DNA AS AN EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICE

Storage devices are materials used to store data, permanently or temporary for future use. This files may range from small documents to large videos. Example of storage devices includes our everyday Flash drive, compact disc, hard disk drives etc. We all know that the larger the storage devices are the greater the data capacity it can contain.

Below is a picture of my 4TB Seagate hard disk

Image taken with my windows phone

However consider having a storage device, size of a sugar cube, containing every movie ever made. Waoh you say, yes that is a lot of terabytes and for a relatively small storage device too. I give you DNA digital data storage.

Let us first understand the meaning of DNA

DNA is the acronym for Deoxyribonucleic acid is a substance, or molecule that carries, contains genetic information about a living organism. You ever wonder how you look like your father, mother. How you have the same body structure, voice, eye color like your parent. This is exactly the work of DNA, to store all genetic information.
Now we know what DNA is all about. What about DNA digital data storage, how do we come about it, how do you store data in DNA molecules, how do you retrieve data, what are the challenges. Sit back, grab some popcorns, as you read through this awesome article.

DNA digital data storage is any process or way to store digital data in DNA. This technology uses artificial/synthetic DNA for data storage. It was currently reported that 1 gram of DNA can store 215 petabytes of Data. Let’s do the math 215 petabytes = 215,000 terabytes = 215 million gigabytes. That is a large amount of space. For example, four grams of DNA can store a year worth of information produced by all of humanity. DNA digital data can last for over 100 years compared to traditional storage devices that can last for only a decade or so. If properly stored, the data stored in the DNA can last up to a million years. Tech giants Microsoft already have plans to add DNA data to its cloud Tech giants Microsoft already have plans to add DNA data to its cloud

Image courtesy of pixabay

Storing the data

Traditional storage devices like flash drives, hard drives, and compact discs, store digital data by changing the properties of the material to 0s and 1s. DNA digital data storage follows the same concept, but the process is different. DNA molecules called nucleotides i.e Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Thymine. Rather than creating sequences of 0s and 1s, DNA digital data storage uses nucleotides sequences.

Retrieving the data

To read and retrieve the data back, DNA sequencing machine is used. The sequencing machine is the same used for analysis of genomic DNA in cells.

Challenges

This is an emerging field in the world of data storage and still at its infancy. There are numerous challenges before it becomes common. An average Samsung smartphone photo would take several hours to store in DNA, though it takes less than a second or a second to save or transfer to a computer. The cost of storing and retrieval of data stored is also a problem, the costs per megabyte is estimated at $3,500 to store the data and $220 to retrieve. These are significant challenges, but I am optimistic, because there is great improvements in the relevant technologies.

You can read more at Source 1 Source 2

You can read more at Source 1 Source 2