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Data Storage Microsoft

Microsoft Makes Breakthrough In the Quest To Use DNA As Data Storage (gizmodo.com) 43

Posted by BeauHD from the one-step-closer-to-reality dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Microsoft, one of the pioneers of DNA storage, is making some headway, working with the University of Washington's Molecular Information Systems Laboratory, or MISL. The company announced in a new research paper the first nanoscale DNA storage writer, which the research group expects to scale for a DNA write density of 25 x 10^6 sequences per square centimeter, or "three orders of magnitude" (1,000x) more tightly than before. What makes this particularly significant is that it's the first indication of achieving the minimum write speeds required for DNA storage.

Microsoft is one of the biggest players in cloud storage and is looking at DNA data storage to gain an advantage over the competition by using its unparalleled density, sustainability, and shelf life. DNA is said to have a density capable of storing one exabyte, or 1 billion gigabytes, per square inch -- an amount many magnitudes larger than what our current best storage method, Linear Type-Open (LTO) magnetic tape, can provide. What do these advantages mean in real-world terms? Well, the International Data Corporation predicts data storage demands will reach nine zettabytes by 2024. As Microsoft notes, only one zettabyte of storage would be used if Windows 11 were downloaded on 15 billion devices. Using current methods, that data would need to be stored on millions of tape cartridges. Cut the tape and use DNA, and nine zettabytes of information can be stored in an area as small as a refrigerator (some scientists say every movie ever released could fit in the footprint of a sugar cube). But perhaps a freezer would be a better analogy, because data stored on DNA can last for thousands of years whereas data loss occurs on tape with 30 years and even sooner on SSDs and HDDs.

Finding ways to increase write speeds addresses one of the two main problems with DNA storage (the other being cost). With the minimum write speed threshold within grasp, Microsoft is already pushing ahead with the next phase. "A natural next step is to embed digital logic in the chip to allow individual control of millions of electrode spots to write kilobytes per second of data in DNA, and we foresee the technology reaching arrays containing billions of electrodes capable of storing megabytes per second of data in DNA. This will bring DNA data storage performance and cost significantly closer to tape," Microsoft told TechRadar.
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Microsoft Makes Breakthrough In the Quest To Use DNA As Data Storage More

Microsoft Makes Breakthrough In the Quest To Use DNA As Data Storage

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  • They talk about write speeds, but the real problem isn't write speed it is read speed, and data organization.

    Conflating it with non-volatile random access memory like SSDs and HDDs is absurd.

    we foresee the technology reaching arrays containing billions of electrodes capable of storing megabytes per second of data in DNA. This will bring DNA data storage performance and cost significantly closer to tape

    Tape is expensive, too. What if they had billions of electrodes connected to transistors? How much storage would they have?

    This research has nothing to do with computers, and everything to do with biological research, especially 3d printing of living tissue.

    • We can also talk about wrong comparisons here:

      because data stored on DNA can last for thousands of years whereas data loss occurs on tape with 30 years and even sooner on SSDs and HDDs.

      Data stored on DNA can last for thousands of years, but how soon before data loss occurs? They should compare like and like.

      • We already have good equipment to make fast copies of DNA. If you make enough copies, you should be able to use error correction to recover a clean source. There was a movie about this with Jeff Goldblum and Newman from Seinfeld.

        • If you make enough copies, you should be able to use error correction to recover a clean source. There was a movie about this with Jeff Goldblum and Newman from Seinfeld.

          If I remember correctly, they had to fill in the gaps in the record with DNA from frogs.

          • I'd say the data corruption rate is less than SSD, HDD, or tape. Don't worry. Holographic crystal storage will be a thing before this ever gets out of the lab.

            --
            I left you an updated vaccine list on Slashdot circa 2121

            • The measurement of DNA deterioration rate is that half of it deteriorates every 500 years. So it's losing more than one bit of data per year. How quick does tape/ssd/hdd last?

          • Well life, uh, finds a way.
        • Upload your data to 640KBandMe.com

    • They talk about write speeds, but the real problem isn't write speed it is read speed, and data organization.

      Actually, I would think the real problem is copyright protection. A few hundred generations of mitosis and the statutory damages will bankrupt anyone.

  • That gives the term "virus" a complete new dimension!

  • I've had it with you, I've had it with all this shit. I WANT ROOM SERVICE!!!

  • "As Microsoft notes, only one zettabyte of storage would be used if Windows 11 were downloaded on 15 billion devices." What? Unless I misunderstand, that would only require 1 copy of Windows 11 on the server. Each device would then download its own copy, stored (or installed) locally. Why would that require so much storage? It would only be a few gigs or so (whatever the size of Win 11) on each local PC, and the same on the server, maybe a bit more for multiple copies. Surely any standard HDD or SSD could h

    • One zettabyte across 15 billion devices is about 66GB per device. That matches pretty closely with the Windows 11 minimum disk size requirements (64GB) and the Windows 11 installation size (about 32GB?).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by marcle ( 1575627 )

        Sure, but that amount of data isn't stored in one place. It's spread across 15 billion devices. How does this relate to an article about a new high-density storage medium?

        • Well one zettabyte is one zettabyte, regardless of whether it is all in one device or spread across multiple devices. I guess they are just trying to convey the general size of one zettabyte by saying it is equivalent to 15 billion Windows 11 installations.
    • Windows 11 makes it extremely difficult to make a local account and when you use a Microsoft account it will automatically start uploading your files to OneDrive and turn back on sometimes even when you turn it off.
      And there's no getting out of telemetry collection. So yes I'd imagine every Windows 11 installation MS needs a lot of storage for the data they take by force.
  • *has left pinkie cut off* "Dammit, that was the only copy of my old save games from KOTOR 2!"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jezwel ( 2451108 )
      Yeah I'm wondering if we've trawled through all our "junk" DNA to check if there's a heap of data stored in there not related to defining a human.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by ebvwfbw ( 864834 )

        Yeah I'm wondering if we've trawled through all our "junk" DNA to check if there's a heap of data stored in there not related to defining a human.

        It turns out to be storage for an ancient alien version of the game Pong.

        Joke could be on me if that turns out to be true.

  • Science abstract (Score:3)

    by mrclevesque ( 1413593 ) on Thursday December 02, 2021 @08:05PM (#62041919)

    https://www.science.org/doi/10... [science.org]

    "We have developed the first nanoscale DNA storage writer, which we **expect** to scale DNA write density to 25 × 106 sequences per square centimeter, three orders of magnitude improvement over existing DNA synthesis arrays. We show confinement of DNA synthesis to an area under 1 square micrometer, parallelized over millions of nanoelectrode wells and then successfully write and **decode** a message in DNA. DNA synthesis on this scale will enable write throughputs **to reach megabytes per second** and is a key enabler to a practical DNA data storage system."

    Notice the emphasized wording. Expect, then decode not read, and could reach a couple megs a second (or maybe more!) (an SSD can do 5000 megs a second).

    • If you're storing a classic film or bank records, you're really only ever reading the data once every couple decades... or never.

      And duplication is as "simple" as PCR for billions and billions of copies.

      If a digital copy of a film is 2TB and it could achieve 10MB/s that's plenty fast and opens up incredible opportunities for long term archival. Bank records are even smaller and almost never ever accessed.

  • Microsoft Makes Breakthrough In the Quest To Use DNA As Data Storage

    Another ribbon interface for them to mess with.

  • ...computer viruses.
    Memory viruses, you store the wrong kind of data and the next epidemic is around the corner...

    • This is why, in 2051, some music data storage accidently matched a living organism and bacteria accidently picked it up and mutated. Not long after, Gograh began eating the city of Seattle. And that led to the current situation where the few survivors live underground in pods and eat mushrooms. Meanwhile, Gograh mysteriously keeps humming pop tunes for no known reason.
  • How did we come to COVID-19 crisis again? DNA/RNA data storage? Virus? Computer virus in DNA data storage? Can't really fix STUPID ENGINEER can you now....

  • If we extract our DNA and and treat it as stored data, I wonder what will it say. Will we see a 42 every 42 characters? ;)

    • If we extract our DNA and and treat it as stored data, I wonder what will it say. Will we see a 42 every 42 characters? ;)

      I recall, back in the '80s when they were just starting to decode natural DNA and the functions of introns weren't well understood, someone putting out the proposition that they might be the code's comments, in which case they might qualify as "holy writ". B-)

  • The apparently current LTO-9 tapes store 18 Terabytes on a tape that's 1035 metres in length and 12.65 mm in width. So it uses roughly 13 square metres for only 18 Terabytes. For comparison a platter side is roughly 0.006 square metres. So to store 18 Terabytes at the density of LTO-9 you'd need over 2000 platter sides, or 1000 platters. We already have 20 Terabyte harddisks and those don't need 1000 platters.

    BTW the reason to use DNA storage is not that it's very dense. The reason is that it's extremely ea

  • One zettabyte divides by 15 billion is approximately 67 gigabytes for Windows. I remember that Windows NT 3.51 was about 40 megabytes and could boot (not very usably to be fair) with 12 MB of RAM.

  • Canâ(TM)t wait for someone to hack the shit out of that storage medium. Imagine an adversary YouTube video being stored, but give raise to self replicating sequencesâ¦.
  • ...a truly frightening vision of a dystopian future.Then they would all automatic update at the same time, and we're back to abacuses.

  • The series "Biohackers" was stored on DNA I remember:

    https://www.medicaldevice-netw... [medicaldev...etwork.com]

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