
-- --
SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE:
When it comes to the storage of media assets (or any data, for that matter), whether it's online or up on the cloud, there's no doubt that the immediate future of data storage remains magnetic tape. Recent technological advancements have given new life to hard drives, but when it comes to long-term archiving of assets, the tape or hard drive of the future could be something very old, something that everyone has inside them: DNA.
The first commercial digital-tape storage system, IBM's Model 726, could store about 1.1 megabytes on one reel of tape. Today, a modern LTO tape cartridge can hold 30 terabytes. Meanwhile, a single robotic tape library can contain up to 556 petabytes of data. While tape doesn't offer the fast read/write speeds of hard drives, the medium's advantages are many.
For starters, tape is reliable, with error rates four to five orders of magnitude lower than those of hard drives. They are energy efficient: once all the data has been written, the tape cartridge simply sits in a slot in a tape library without consuming any power until it's needed again. And tape is very secure, with built-in, on-the-fly encryption and if a cartridge isn't mounted in a drive, the data cannot be accessed or modified. The main reason why tape is so popular is simple economics. Tape storage costs one-sixth the amount you'd have to pay to keep the same amount of data on disks, which is why you find tape systems almost any place where massive amounts of data are being stored.
But, as mentioned, tape is slow, and so the development of hard drive technology continues. The longevity of hard disks, and the rapid rise of solid-state drives (SSDs), can be attributed to a continual improvement process to minimise the drawbacks of tape technology. The hard disk game changed dramatically in 2005 with perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), where, broadly speaking, magnetised bits stand perpendicular to the head of the hard disk platter instead of lying down, making room for more bits. However, after years of data density improvements using PMR (densities doubled between 2009 and 2015), researchers are once again hitting the physical limits: each magnetic bit' is becoming too small to reliably hold its data, increasing the potential for corruption.
Shingled magnetic recording (SMR), introduced by Seagate in 2014, is one way to fit more data on a disk's platter. In an SMR disk, when the write head writes a data track, the new track will overlap part of the previously written track, reducing its width and meaning more tracks can fit on a platter. The thinner track can still be read, as read heads can be physically thinner than write heads. Western Digital launched a 15TB SMR hard drive in 2018 targeting data centres, with plans to increase the capacity per rack by up to 60TB soon.
The next big thing is two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR). This is another Seagate technology, and aims to solve the problem of reading data from tightly packed hard disk tracks, where the read head picks up interference from tracks around the one being read. TDMR disks use multiple read heads to pick up data from several tracks at a time, then work out which data is needed, turning the noise into useful data that can be analysed and then discarded when not required. 14 and 16TB TDMR drives came onto the market in 2019.
The multiple read heads of TDMR disks can improve read speeds, but to improve write speeds while increasing data density you need to move away from SMR to the latest hard disk technology: heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). This aims to overcome the compromise of SMR by changing the material of the hard disk platter, to one where each bit will maintain its magnetic data integrity at a smaller size. As HAMR's name implies, the solution is to use a laser to heat up part of the hard disk platter before the data is written. This lowers the material's coercivity enough for the data to be written, before the heated section cools and the coercivity rises again to make the data secure. HAMR has the potential to increase hard disk density tenfold.
Therefore, both hard drive and magnetic tape technologies work for the storage and retrieval of data assets but the trouble is that technology is battling to keep up with the continual flood of data currently being generated, and forecast to be generated in the future. What's the solution? The hard drive of the future could actually be something very old, something that is inside every person reading this: DNA.
Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is the molecule that dictates how an organism develops. DNA can also hold a staggering amount of information: 215 petabytes (1 petabyte is about 100 million gigabytes) of data on a single gram. Just as impressive is its longevity. Traditional mediums like magnetic tape and flash memory tend to degrade, whether through repeated use or simply time. DNA degrades, too, but at a significantly slower rate: depending on the storage conditions, it can last thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years.
The idea of storing data on DNA was proposed back in the 1960s by Soviet scientist Mikhail Neiman. In the decades since, researchers have made great strides in making it achievable - though at a price. Currently, the most cost-effective DNA storage technique costs about US$3,500 per MB to write the data and US$1,000 per MB to read it, so don't retire your LTO or hard drive array just yet.
DNA's storage capabilities, however, are intriguing and have huge potential for computing in the future. For years, technology roughly followed the path laid out by Moore's Law, which stated that every two years or so, we could double the number of transistors that fit on a microchip. However, computer chips have become so small these day
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
21/05/2026
Game Creek Video Columbia and Celtic, NEP Supershooter 8 will house onsite produ...
21/05/2026
Freshly graduated, this upstart producer, director, and camera operator is already working as an AP on videoboard shows for the Philadelphia Phillies
In the li...
21/05/2026
Media Links has announced a channel partnership with Clearcast Asia, a broadcast...
21/05/2026
SiriusXM and NASCAR have announced a multi-year renewal of their broadcasting agreement. SiriusXM will continue to carry live broadcasts of every NASCAR Cup Ser...
21/05/2026
Audio-Technica held a demonstration event at its Technica House location in New ...
21/05/2026
Ateme has announced that RTL Deutschland has selected Ateme's software-based...
21/05/2026
LiveU has announced that BCC Live deployed the LU900Q intelligent production unit for the first time during the 2026 Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North Americ...
21/05/2026
ATSC has announced that Mark Aitken, President of ONE Media and Senior VP of Advanced Technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group, will receive the 2026 Mark Richer ...
21/05/2026
BBright has published a technical analysis of the Media eXchange Layer (MXL), de...
21/05/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the 2026 Esports World Cup (EWC) will be hosted in Paris, France, from July 6 through August 23. The event marks the f...
21/05/2026
Chyron has announced PRIME Scorebug, a scorebug solution built on the PRIME Platform for on-premises sports production, and has expanded Chyron LIVE with purpos...
21/05/2026
Media Links has announced the integration of its Xscend IP transport platform with Skyline Communications' DataMiner xOps platform. The integration will be ...
21/05/2026
As live sports productions continue to demand more flexible, scalable, and cost-...
21/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into...
21/05/2026
Hey Miami & Atlanta post-production folks!
Shade is hosting a free private suite at a Braves game (6/2) and Marlins game (6/5) and have about a dozen extra tic...
21/05/2026
The Suns and Mercury become the first NBA and WNBA teams to make games available under a single broadcast partner across both over-the-air and streaming....
21/05/2026
iPhones are part of the the regular production rotation for Friday Night Baseba...
21/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into...
21/05/2026
Heather Matarazzo as Dawn Wiener in Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse...
21/05/2026
Spotify has always been about helping you find something you want to listen to. And over the years, we've learned your taste and the moments that matter to ...
21/05/2026
Getting concert tickets today can feel like a race you're set up to lose.
You show up at the right time, refresh endlessly, and still miss out. Too often, ...
21/05/2026
In 2022, Spotify entered a new chapter by introducing audiobooks to our platform. Since then, we've grown our catalog to include more than 700,000 titles, e...
21/05/2026
Opening remarks
ALEX
Good morning everyone, I'm Alex [Norstr m].
GUSTAV
And I'm Gustav [S derstr m].
ALEX
Whether you've been following our j...
21/05/2026
Today, Spotify hosted our third Investor Day in New York City, offering the fina...
21/05/2026
Spotify hat heute seinen dritten Investor Day in New York City veranstaltet und der Finanzwelt tiefere Einblicke in das Gesch ft, die Produktstrategie und die l...
21/05/2026
Aujourd'hui, Spotify a organis son troisi me Investor Day New York. En pl...
21/05/2026
Oggi, a New York City, Spotify ha presentato il suo terzo Investor Day, offrendo...
21/05/2026
Hoy Spotify celebr su tercer Investor Day en Nueva York, donde ofrecimos a la c...
21/05/2026
Hari ini, Spotify menyelenggarakan Investor Day yang ketiga di New York City, me...
21/05/2026
2026 : (Investor Day) , , . ...
21/05/2026
Hoje, o Spotify realizou seu terceiro Investor Day em Nova York, oferecendo co...
21/05/2026
Spotify Investor Day ...
21/05/2026
Spotify bug n, 20'nci y l d n m m z kutlad m z bu y lda, finans camias na, i modelimiz, r n stratejimiz ve uzun vadeli vizyonumuz hakk nda daha detayl ...
21/05/2026
Two new Story Packs join orchestral instrument line-up
Sonuscore have just introduced two new additions to The Score, marking the instrument's first maj...
21/05/2026
30,000 samples, 99 presets & 504 loops
Heavyocity are well known for their hard-hitting cinematic instruments, and their latest release is no exception to t...
21/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz AI powered voice to data: The future of air traffic control take...
21/05/2026
SKY RAIDER II INTERNATIONAL's modular open systems architecture delivers expanded operational reach and mission flexibility....
21/05/2026
ASO-enabled WESCAM MX-10 systems conduct systematic wide-area maritime search patterns, autonomously managing sensor scan operations to expand coverage, reduce ...
21/05/2026
HBO Max, a new addition to Gracenote Data Hub, is home to the most sports programming among major streamers
NEW YORK May 21, 2026 New analysis by Gracenote...
21/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/05/2026
The UK's leading event for the creative industries united thousands of professionals for two days of networking, debate, industry insight and getting hands-...
21/05/2026
Recreating Doug Trumbull's Slitscan VFX - After Effects Mastery
Graham Quince May 21, 2026
0 Comments
In this After Effects tutorial, I'm divi...
21/05/2026
Cavalry: An Array of Fun Stuff
Simon Ubsdell May 21, 2026
0 Comments
Arrays are a really powerful feature of Cavalry and here we'll go over some o...
21/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...