{"id":110516,"date":"2023-12-07T09:46:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T17:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=110516"},"modified":"2024-08-14T12:08:24","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T19:08:24","slug":"storage-tech-of-the-future-ceramics-dna-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/storage-tech-of-the-future-ceramics-dna-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Storage Tech of the Future: Ceramics, DNA, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Two announcements had the Backblaze #social Slack channel blowing up this week, both related to \u201cStorage Technologies of the Future.\u201d The first reported \u201cVideo of Ceramic Storage System Surfaces Online<\/a>\u201d like some kind of UFO sighting. The second, somewhat more restrained announcement heralded the release of DNA storage cards<\/a> available to the general public. Yep, you heard that right\u2014coming to a Best Buy near you. (Not really. You absolutely have to special order these babies, but they ARE going to be for sale.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talked about DNA storage way back in 2015<\/a>. It\u2019s been nine years, so we thought it was high time to revisit the tech and dig into ceramics as well. (Pun intended.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is DNA Storage?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The idea is elegant, really. What is DNA if not an organic, naturally occuring form of code? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DNA consists of four nucleotide bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In DNA storage, information is encoded into sequences of these nucleotide bases. For example, A and C might represent 0, while T and G represent 1. This encoding allows digital data, such as text, images, or other types of information, to be translated into DNA sequences. Cool!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appeal of DNA as a storage medium lies in its density and stability, as well as its ability to store vast amounts of information in a very compact space. It also boasts remarkable durability, with the ability to preserve information for thousands of years under suitable conditions. I mean, leave it to Mother Nature to put our silly little hard drives to shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2015, we shared that the storage density of DNA was about 2.2 petabytes per gram. In 2017, a study out of Columbia University and the New York Genome Center put it at an incredible 215 petabytes per gram<\/a>. For comparison\u2019s sake, a WDC 22TB drive (WDC WUH722222ALE6L4) that we currently use in our data centers is 1.5 pounds or 680 grams, which nets out at 0.032TB\/gram or 0.000032PB\/gram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another major advantage is its sustainability. Estimated global data center electricity consumption in 2022 was 240\u2013340 TWh1, or around 1\u20131.3% of global final electricity demand. Current data storage technology uses rare earth metals which are environmentally damaging to mine. Drives take up space, and they also create e-waste at the end of their lifecycle. It\u2019s a challenge anyone who works in the data storage industry thinks about a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DNA storage, on the other hand, requires less energy<\/a>. A 2023 study<\/a> found that data writing can be achieved in the DNA movable-type storage system under normal operating temperatures ranging from about 60\u2013113\u00b0F and can be stored at room temperature. DNA molecules are also biodegradable and can be broken down naturally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DNA data-writing process is chemical-based<\/a>, and actually not the most environmentally friendly, but the DNA storage cards developed by Biomemory<\/a> use a proprietary biosourced writing process, which they call \u201ca significant advancement over existing chemical or enzymatic synthesis technologies.\u201d So, there might be some trade-offs, but we\u2019ll know more as the technology evolves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the Catch?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Density? Check. Durability? Wow, yeah. Sustainability? You got it. But DNA storage is still a long way from sitting on your desk, storing your duplicate selfies. First, and we said this back in 2015 too, DNA takes a long time to read and write\u2014DNA synthesis writes at a few hundred bytes per second<\/a>. An average iPhone photo would take several hours to write to DNA. And to read it, you have to sequence the DNA\u2014a time-intensive process. Both of those processes require specialized scientific equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also still too expensive. In 2015, we found a study<\/a> that put 83 kilobytes of DNA storage at \u00a31000 (about $1,500 U.S. dollars). In 2021, MIT estimated it would cost about $1 trillion<\/a> to store one petabyte of data on DNA. For comparison, it costs $6,000 per month to store one petabyte in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage ($6\/TB\/month). You could store that petabyte for a little over 13 million years before you\u2019d hit $1 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Biomemory\u2019s DNA storage cards ring in at a cool \u20ac1000 (about $1,080 U.S. dollars). And they can hold a whopping one kilobyte of data or the equivalent of a short email. So, yeah \u2026it\u2019s ahh, gotten even more expensive for the commercial product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discrepancy between the MIT theoretical estimate and the cost of the Biomemory cards really speaks to the expense of bringing a technology like this to market. The theoretical cost per byte is a lot different than the operational cost, and the Biomemory cards are really meant to serve as proof of concept.  All that said, as the technology improves, one can only hope that it becomes more cost-effective in the future. Folks are experimenting with different encoding schemes<\/a> to make writing and reading more efficient, as one example of an advance that could start to tip the balance.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there\u2019s just something a bit spooky about using synthetic DNA to store data. There\u2019s a Black Mirror episode in there somewhere. Maybe one day we can upload kung fu skills directly into our brain domes and that would be cool, but for now, it\u2019s still somewhat unsettling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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