Saving information in the DNA is possible, but quite complicated and slow. For years, various companies have been researching – and to drive this development, they have now founded DNA Data Storage Alliance.
Continue way to the application
Microsoft and Western Digital are the most prominent coarse, while there are still twist bioscience and Illumina. Twist Bioscience and Microsoft have been working together with the University of Washington for years to save data in synthetic DNA. Last year, these had already shown a prototype of automated DNA storage and in collaboration with Twist Bioscience proved that the storage of coarse amounts of data is possible.
However, until a commercial application, it is still a further way, said Karin Strauss from Microsoft Research in a lecture on the Flash Memory Summit. The primary of the DNA Data Storage Allience serve once again to inform about the technology, to recognize possible applications and then possibly develop a roadmap for commercial uses.
Advantages of DNA memory
Overall, however, Strauss does not look for data storage in synthetic DNA as competition to flash memory. Currently the latency is far too high and the speed far too low. DNA memory KONNE may serve as archive media, but not as a fast memory. However, compared to current techniques of long-term archiving, DNA memory is much better suited: Strauss expects the information to hold between two thousand and two million years. Another advantage of the DNA memory: He will always give readers for DNA; Unlike current storage media.
If the technology is once mature, it should also be less environmentally polluting than current. Strauss compared DNA memory with a band: For the storage of 1 TBYTE data on one year, you use the triple energy with tape drives, accordingly, the triple CO2 outset should be expected.
If the technology one day should be on a market for a day, the space requirement should be significantly lower. In a river with the edge length of an inch (2.54 cm) take an exabyte, said Strauss. For most users, the storage space in the pink spot could be stretched in the picture above: that’s 10 TBYTE.