Does The Future Of Data Storage Lie In The Stars?

Not enough disk space, anywhere
A gigabyte hard drive may have seemed a lot in the 80s. But then came the internet, and then social media, and suddenly there was significantly more data in the world than the previous decade.

It's not just big corporations and research organizations contributing to the build-up anymore. Social media and smartphones means that anyone, anytime, and anywhere can upload data, and with 72 hours’ worth of video footage uploaded to YouTube every minute, data build-up isn't likely to slow down anytime soon.

The need for new data storage technology is more urgent then many realize, with humanity having created 1.8 trillion gigabytes of new data in 2011, according to a Digital Universe report, a number that may multiply by 50 times by 2020 (science.time.com).

Hard drive technology may have come a long way, but developing technology that originated in the 50s may no longer be enough. It may be time for something entirely revolutionary.

Bacteria: the new flash drive?

For all the talk of the cloud being the future, researchers are investigating an altogether unique possibility: Bio-storage – the storage of data on living organisms.

It may sound like something from the realms of science-fiction, but students in Hong Kong have been performing tests on E. coli to investigate its viability as a data storage medium, and in 2012, a Harvard University Research team successfully demonstrated the potential of bio-storage by translating a book containing 53,426 words, 15 photos, and a Java app into DNA format (thehightechsociety.com).

[Image Source: office.microsoft.com]

It's clear why researchers are excited about the possibilities, considering a single gram of bacteria can hold more data than a 900TB hard drive. According to ComputerWorld, the entire Library of Congress could be contained within a single test tube, and all the information on the internet could fit inside a small closet.

As for longevity, what could be more adept at surviving extreme conditions or the ravages of time than bacteria? It can withstand nuclear disasters, and the data contained within can last for millions of years.

Or jewellery

Carbon crystals – or sand – are another possibility being investigated. A single carbon crystal can store 887,808 Petabytes. Basically, the sum total of all data that existed in the world eight years ago could be stored within a single grain of sand.

Then there are diamonds, 600 grams of which could hold a lifetime's worth of data for everyone on earth, and as one of the James Bond film titles suggests, they could do so for quite a while. If that sounds outlandish, scientist Robert Bradbury envisioned data being stored in mega-structures in space.

These structures would be composed of nano-scale computers and powered by stars. It's clear that some people take our future data storage requirements quite seriously indeed, when they're willing to consider using the stars themselves as batteries.

  Matthew Flax

About the Guest Author:

Matthew Flax writes for Data Detect, an Australian-based company that offers data recovery services in all the major cities in the country, including Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne.