• Source:JND
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Chinese scientists have reinvented one of the 20th century's iconic storage mediums -- cassette tape -- by powering it with synthetic DNA. Led by professor Xingyu Jiang from Guangdong Southern University of Science and Technology, their project uses plastic strips embedded with DNA strands which store digital data efficiently.

How It Works: DNA Meets Cassette

Instead of magnetic particles, DNA cassettes use synthetic DNA strands whose four bases--A, T, C and G--code for digital information. The DNA strands can then be loaded onto an adhesive tape that can then be inserted into a special cassette drive for use.

  • Partitions: Thousands of addressable partitions, with up to 1,570 processed per second
  • Density: 28.6 milligrams of DNA per kilometre of tape
  • Durability: Strands are coated in a zeolitic imidazolate “armour” for protection, potentially keeping data safe for hundreds of years.

Storage Capacity: From 12 Tracks to 3 Billion Songs

While a classic cassette could hold just a dozen songs per side, the DNA cassette takes things to an entirely new level.

  • Total capacity: 36 petabytes
  • Equivalent: Over 3 billion songs (assuming ~10 MB per file)
  • Redundancy: Built-in copy mechanisms ensure long-term reliability

This leap underscores just how radically DNA’s theoretical storage density—up to 455 exabytes per gram—can transform archival storage.

Access and Retrieval

The DNA cassette system comes with a dedicated cassette drive—but instead of music, it processes data. Users can recover, delete, or manipulate files stored on the DNA.

  • In one test, researchers recovered an incomplete image in ~50 minutes.
  • However, full file restoration still requires next-generation sequencing tools, pointing to current limitations in retrieval speed.

Why DNA Storage Matters

As global data demands continue to surge, traditional mediums like hard drives and magnetic tapes present challenges in terms of scaling capacity and longevity. DNA-based storage provides three important advantages over its rivals.

1. Unmatched density – far beyond silicon or magnetic media.

2. Longevity – DNA can survive centuries with proper preservation.

3. Compactness – petabytes of data stored in what looks like a retro cassette shell.

What’s Next

While the DNA cassette is still experimental, the breakthrough points to a future of hybrid storage media, combining nostalgic designs with next-gen technology. High costs and slow read/write speeds remain hurdles, but as sequencing tools improve, DNA tapes could one day become viable for archival data centers, national libraries, and even personal backups.

For now, the humble cassette—once thought obsolete—has been reborn as a 36-petabyte storage powerhouse, giving a new meaning to “mixtape of the future.”