Ask HN: Max data storage density?

1 point

8 years ago

I would like to know what could be considered as the record data storage density (TB per gram) for present day industry-grade data storage.

With DNA, researchers claim 214 PB per gram; however, the setup seems decades away from anything that could be used at scale. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/245304-researchers-increase-storage-capacity-dna-214-petabytes-per-gram

In contrast, Sandisk has 400GB microSD card, which would certainly qualify for industry-grade data storage: https://www.sandisk.com/home/memory-cards/microsd-cards/ultra-microsd-400gb

According to Wikipedia, a microSD card is about 0.25 gram, that is 1.6 TB per gram. However, I suspect, that at least 80% of the volume and weight of a microSD card is merely the inert material holding the whole thing together. If this assumption is correct, then, we would have already an example of a 6 TB / gram data storage.

Is my 80% guess correct? Then, as of today, is there any existing industry-grade data storage which provides a higher density?