How are we going to store data?

[Julian-Dumitrascu]

I start this discussion as a fellow user of computers.
It seems that data are stored on disks that work in a frame, usually a computer. One can connect many such frames and add the necessary equipment for maintaining the storage, transferring data, and processing data.

1. Amount of data managed by a human being

“In 2020, the installed base of storage capacity reached 6.7 * 10^21 bytes.” The number of Internet users reached 4.585 * 10^9 then, so 1.46 * 10^12 bytes could be stored for one person on average.
It seems that in 2022 the average data transfer approached 10^12 per user, which seems a low value.
It seems we created 26 * 10^21 bytes of data before 2018. “2% of the data produced in 2020 was saved into 2021.” Then the main operation might be to delete data. Maybe we delete data about talks. Who deletes what other data?

2. Electrical energy used for computing

“Powering the internet consumed 800 * 10^12 Wh of electricity in 2022” If 5.3 * 10^9 people used the Internet then, each of them used 150 kWh. A computer can consume more than this, so one uses more than 300 kWh per year to use the Internet. Maybe more than 1.6 * 10^15 Wh are consumed globally. This seems to amount to more than 5% of all the electrical energy we use.
We seem to use the most electrical energy for transferring data: maybe more than 370 TWh.
In data centres, air conditioners consume the most electrical energy: maybe more than 160 TWh. Data centres consume about the same amount of electrical energy to process data.
Storage media seem to consume the least electrical energy while in use.

3. Prices for data storage

3.1 For how much money can I buy data storage?
USD 200 per 4 TB solid-state drive (SSD)
These drives can work for many years. One might not have to replace them.
If one pays USD 20 per year to store 4 TB of data, one pays USD 5 per TB per year.
If one consumes 500 kWh to make these data available at any time, one might pay USD 100 per year.
3.2 For how much money can I rent data storage?
USD 189 per 5 TB per year, including professional services like end-to-end encryption

4. It seems data storage can be distributed otherwise across computers when we use a service like MaidSafe or FreeNet.

5. Factors that influence data centres

5.1 To the extent we want to set up even the smallest data centres, we can try to match the distribution of storage devices to the distribution of people.
Where are you going to live?
Until 2020 people had migrated mainly to:

country	millions
USA	50
Germany	15.7
Saudi Arabia	13.4
Russia	11.6
Britain	9.3
United Arab Emirates	8.7
France	8.5
Canada	8
Australia	7.6
Spain	6.8
Italy	6.4
Turkey	6
Ukraine	5

North America, Europe, Southwest Asia, Russia, and Australia. People seem to have migrated e.g. to safer places or to people abler to spend money. Changes in the climate, and military activities influence migration and data storage.
5.2 The smaller a data centre (e.g. 1 or 2 SSD of any capacity), the easier it is to move it.
The middle ground can be some modular centres.
5.3 Data storage equipment operates best at air temperatures between 18 and 27 degrees Celsius (22.5 degrees on average). It might work well in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Angola, Botswana, Pakistan, Ecuador, Tunisia, Bolivia, Eswatini, and Burundi (mainly southern America, Africa, and Asia).
5.4 To make it more probable that one can power data centres, one can focus on countries more capable of producing electrical energy, e.g. because they have coal (USA, Russia, Australia, China, India, Germany, Indonesia, Ukraine, Poland), gas (Iran, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Algeria, Mozambique), and petroleum (Libya, Brazil, Egypt).