Microsoft bought millions of DNA strands to store data

With the development so fast, data doubled every two years, storage is becoming more and more difficult. The risk of data loss is always the driving force for computer companies and computers to find ways to store data more effectively.

Engadget said, Microsoft recently bought 10 million molecular chemical fibers - DNA or RNA , where the bodies of all living organisms store information about themselves - from San Francisco's Twist Bioscience. They want to see if it is possible to exploit this incredible data attribute to store other information.

Microsoft said that in the initial tests, they were "able to encode and recover 100% of digital data from synthetic DNA" promising a way to store the perfect future data - (Photo: Independent).

According to Independent, DNA has the ability to integrate 1 billion terabytes of data into 1 gram. This feature makes it a more efficient form of storage than any other known form of computer storage.

Moreover, it can keep information very long time. As a matter of fact, mammoth DNA has existed for tens of thousands of years after they died. Experts believe that storing data in DNA will allow for 2,000 years or more, making it a much longer storage medium than traditional data storage.

The problem is that DNA is still expensive . It took Microsoft 10 cents to buy a custom DNA sequence. They hope it will be cheaper in the future. Not to mention, access to this data is also quite expensive because there is no key that they are required to decode through the gene sequence.

The study hopes to create data storage products with a capacity of 1 billion terabytes / 1g and hold for 2,000 years - (Photo: Engadget).

Microsoft said that in the initial tests, they were "able to encrypt and restore 100% of digital data from total DNA ".

Doug Carmean, Microsoft's partner, said: "We still have years to produce a commercially viable product, but our initial tests prove that in the future we will be able to do it. Significantly increase the density and durability of data storage ".

Scientists have studied the use of DNA to store data for years. Back in 2012, Stanford scientists created a repository for DNA inside living cells. That same year, a Harvard research group "stuffed" 704 terabytes of data into one gram of DNA.