Digital and biological storage systems — a quantitative comparison

The paper presents a quantitative comparison of digital/electronic and biological storage systems. Two biological storage systems are included: DNA and brain memory. First we will show some examples of digital-biological systems integration. In the main part of the paper, we discuss different storage aspects, mostly quantitative, such as: organization, functionality, data density, capacity, power consumption, redundancy, integrity, access time and data transfer rate. Numerous analogies between biological and electronic storage systems are pointed out. Finally, we will try to answer the question: which digital storage systems and media are the best equivalents for brain and DNA storage? The analysis of the storage systems resemblances and differences may facilitate to carry bioinformatics research.