> a single individual could need multiple sequences stored.

And multiple sequences could be hundreds, thousands, or more. Example: single-cell RNAseq pipelines that generate sequences for 10k cells at once.

Perhaps in the future--as tech improves--the devices themselves might be equipped to run more real-time in memory QC and emit less--but more accurate--data? I believe this is somewhat how CERN does it, where they only record a filtered subset of the data that comes in.