White paper - Alternative Storage Technologies

Alternative Storage Technologies Whitepaper

DNA (DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID) DNA is the molecule that dictates how an organ- ism develops. The DNA in our bodies is made up of nucleotides that form pairs in a specific order. There are four different nucleotides in DNA: ade- nine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). DNA data storage works by encoding digital data sequences (0s and 1s) into DNA sequences (A, C, G, T). The sequenced information is then synthe- sized into artificial DNA. To retrieve information from this DNA, one must decode the nucleotide sequences from the synthetic DNA back into bina- ry data, which is extremely difficult. The main advantages of DNA data storage are: • The incredible high storage capacity. DNA can hold 215 petabytes of data on a single gram. • Long-Lasting — DNA can last a very long time, in any condition, for tens of thousands of years without needing any special care or treatment. • Size — DNA is extremely small and cannot be viewed by the naked eye, making it very useful for storing data in a confined space.

The main disadvantages of DNA data storage are: • Cost —The price is high. The cost per mega- byte for encoding data is an estimated $12,400, and an extra $220 is needed for retrieval/de- coding. • Read and write speeds. Writing to and reading from DNA is a lengthy and painstaking process. • Not rewritable and no random access func- tionality — Once you encode data into DNA, there is no way of making changes to your data without redoing the encoding process. There’s also no random access functionality, which means you can’t access a specific part of data without decoding all of it. For now, DNA-based storage and computing are not likely to be a noticeable part of everyday life, but something that could have a massive impact on the big picture view of humanity.

DNA encoding and decoding processes