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GAO-22-105954 1 (2022-05-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaoncb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics SCIENCE & TECH SPOTLIGHT: ALTERNATIVE DATA STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES What is it? Alternative data storage technologies-such as synthetic DNA and etched glass-are in development to meet growing demand. Current data storage media (e.g., magnetic tapes, DVDs, and hard drives) are likely insufficient to meet the emerging global data storage needs, which are currently estimated to be around 97 trillion gigabytes. Demand is expected to double by 2025. The plastic and magnetic materials in current storage degrade over time and the technologies become obsolete by newer technology, requiring replacement as often as every 3 years. In addition, researchers estimate that by 2040, 2.4 billion kilograms of wafer-grade silicon-a high-purity component of computer chips and storage devices-would be needed to store the world's data. Yet the projected supply is estimated to be only 1 percent of demand. Furthermore, current data storage systems require large, energy-intensive facilities to operate and slow degradation of the storage media. Data centers have a significant environmental impact- reportedly consuming about 2 percent of the world's electricity as of January 2020 and potentially reaching 8 percent by 2030. How does it work? Synthetic DNA and glass data storage have greater storage capacity and, when stored properly, are more durable than current technologies. In nature, DNA has been storing information since life began. The same coding system can be used to store digital information in an artificial DNA strand-created in a lab, not by a biological organism. To read the data, established technology known as sequencing can decode DNA (see fig. 1). DNA can hold over 11 trillion gigabytes in a cubic inch of material. Digital files 4 `s Binary code 01000111 01000111 0000111 00001111 000 1 10 11 00 01 10 11 Pairing t f t I DNA Writing data - Reading data Source: GAO. GAO-22-105954 Data can also be stored in quartz glass using a fast and precise laser, similar to the kind used for vision correction surgery. The laser makes etchings that represent digitally coded ones and zeros. This method is called 5D because it uses five unique attributes of the etchings. Three of the attributes relate to the locations of the etchings on the glass, equivalent to the X, Y, and Z coordinates of a 3D graph. DVD storage uses a similar system, but glass storage has more capacity because the laser creates multiple layers of data using two additional attributes-the size and orientation of the etchings (see fig. 2). Source: GAO. GAO-22-105954 To read the data from the glass, a device shines polarized laser light onto each etching, revealing its five attributes. A camera captures these changes, which a computer decodes into the original digital form. Glass data storage can store hundreds of millions of gigabytes per cubic inch. How mature is it? As of April 2022, both of these technologies are still in development, and neither is commercially available. Researchers have successfully used them to store data and some suggest that they could reach commercialization before 2030. Researchers have successfully stored about 200 megabytes of various forms of data in synthetic DNA, including a music video and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights translated into over 100 languages. Glass storage has been used to store 5 gigabytes of text data in about a 1 inch square of glass. Based on that capacity, researchers believe a CD-sized disk of glass could hold 500 terabytes of data. Researchers are exploring the capabilities and limitations of each technology. For example, synthetic DNA can store a large amount of data in a very small volume, reducing the size of data storage facilities, but currently costs about $3,500 per megabyte-millions of times more than silicon-based storage. In addition, this technology's need for very cold conditions greatly increases its cost. Finally, synthetic DNA data storage is GAO-22-105954 Alternative Data Storage Technologies

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