The new Utah Data Center has been reported to store data on a massive scale, rumored to be around a yottabyte ( 1000 zettabytes = 1 yottabyte). On June 10, 2013, former NSA technical director turned whistleblower William Binney stated storage capacity was 5 zettabytes . On July 24, 2013, Forbes reported that experts estimated the storage capacity between 3-12 exabytes .
Eric Schmidt of Google estimated the total of all human knowledge created from the dawn of man to 2003 totaled 5 exabytes . However this is a refined definition of knowledge as the world communicates more than 2 zettabytes of digital information per year (part of the descrepancy is that this information must be highly redundant-- a million people receive the same advert).
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However, based on published reports and consumer level technology, the Utah Data Center could only store about one exabyte . This low number arises because the NSA claims only 100,000 square feet of the new center will be used for data storage while the remaining 900,000 square feet are used for analysis and administration. A 2010 estimate posted on Gizmodo indicates that this space would hold about 0.1 exabytes using consumer technology. Extrapolating these numbers to account for increases in storage capacity since 2010 allows this estimate to be ramped up to 0.7 exabytes (http://www.mkomo.com/...).
In terms of surveillance capability, the ARGUS-IS surveillance system developed by BAE is capable of continuously observing 10 square miles at a resolution that allows facial recognition at 20,000 feet. This system generates “6 petabytes — or 6,000 terabytes — of video data per day” or about 2 exabytes per year.
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However, if the Utah Data Center stores a yottabyte then it can record continuously from every square inch of the United States for a year ( USA is 3,795,000 square miles, requiring 379,500 planes, each generating 2 exabytes per year, giving a total of about 750 zettabytes per year, with 250 zettabytes left over to record all digital communications for decades).
A story from national journal suggests these drones may already be deployed over Washington DC. Now go pay your taxes.
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