Posted by EngineeringProfit > 3 weeks ago | Report Abuse

Future-proofing new data centers with SSD (Solid State Drive) rather than HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is driven by:

### 1. **Speed and Performance**
- **Read/Write Speed:** SSDs are significantly faster than HDDs. They provide quicker access to data due to the absence of mechanical parts, which is crucial for high-speed data processing and retrieval required in modern data centers.
- **Latency:** SSDs have lower latency, meaning they can start reading and writing data almost instantly. This results in faster application performance, which is essential for real-time data processing and high-performance computing tasks.

### 2. **Reliability and Durability**
- **No Moving Parts:** Unlike HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts, which makes them more durable and less prone to mechanical failure. This reliability is critical for maintaining data integrity and uptime in data centers.
- **Longevity:** SSDs typically have a longer lifespan due to their resistance to physical shock and wear and tear, leading to lower failure rates over time.

### 3. **Energy Efficiency**
- **Power Consumption:** SSDs consume less power compared to HDDs, which can lead to significant energy savings. This is particularly important for data centers, which aim to reduce operational costs and their environmental footprint.
- **Heat Generation:** SSDs generate less heat than HDDs, reducing the need for extensive cooling systems, thereby further lowering energy costs and improving overall efficiency.

### 4. **Physical Space**
- **Form Factor:** SSDs are smaller and lighter than HDDs, allowing for higher storage density in data centers. This efficient use of physical space enables data centers to store more data without requiring additional physical expansion.
- **Scalability:** The compact size of SSDs facilitates easier scalability, allowing data centers to expand their storage capacity more flexibly and efficiently.

### 5. **Performance in High I/O Environments**
- **Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS):** SSDs offer higher IOPS compared to HDDs, which is crucial for environments that require handling large volumes of simultaneous data transactions, such as databases and virtualized environments.
- **Bandwidth:** SSDs provide higher data transfer rates, supporting faster access to large datasets and enhancing the performance of bandwidth-intensive applications.

### 6. **Data Integrity and Security**
- **Error Rates:** SSDs have lower error rates than HDDs, ensuring better data integrity and reliability. This is vital for applications where data accuracy and consistency are paramount.
- **Encryption:** Many SSDs come with built-in encryption features, providing an additional layer of security for sensitive data stored in data centers.

### 7. **Technological Advancements**
- **Evolving Technology:** SSD technology is rapidly advancing, with continuous improvements in storage capacity, performance, and cost-efficiency. Investing in SSDs aligns data centers with the latest technological advancements, ensuring they remain competitive and capable of meeting future demands.
- **Software Integration:** Modern data management and storage software are increasingly optimized for SSDs, enhancing their efficiency and performance in data center environments.

Posted by EngineeringProfit > 3 weeks ago | Report Abuse

While SSDs have historically been more expensive than HDDs on a per-gigabyte basis, the gap has been narrowing. When considering the total cost of ownership, including factors like energy consumption, cooling, maintenance, and the operational benefits of higher performance and reliability, SSDs often prove to be more cost-effective in the long run.

Posted by Goldberg > 3 weeks ago | Report Abuse

Hard drive storage will soon become part of computing history, says expert

Data storage on hard drives will soon become a thing of the past, according to an expert Shawn Rosemarin, Vice President, R&D and Customer Engineering – Pure Storage. According to Rosemarin, we could see the last hard drive being sold in just about five years from now, PC Gamer reported.

Most computer users have long migrated to cloud storage solutions when it comes to safely storing their data. With content being streamed on smartphones and tablets practically everywhere, there is little reason to own a hard drive these days.

Most laptops and computers too are equipped with solid-state drives, so the question is, where are hard drives even used?

The Last of the Hard Drives

Back in 1956, IBM unveiled the 305 RAMDAC, which was likely the first computer to run a hard drive with a magnetic disk. The entire assembly took up a sizeable portion of the room but offered nothing over 5 MB of conventional storage capacity.

Fast forward 50 years, storage capacities had zoomed to one terabyte, and the size of the drive itself had reduced to the palm. When writing this, one can buy 22 TB storage for regular use and even 26 TB models for use in data centers.

The problem, however, according to Rosemarin, is that the world spends three percent of its energy on data centers, most of which is to spin the hard drive’s disk. Shifting to flash storage could reduce power consumption by as much as 90 percent. This is why the shift away from magnetic storage is inevitable.

The major hurdle, according to Rosemarin, is the cost of flash storage. A 100TB flash storage costs $40,000, which is exorbitant when hard drive storage for similar capacity costs about $2,000. But as with computing hardware, prices tumble very quickly, and the SSD will also meet the same fate, sooner or later.

Whether the last hard drive is sold in 2028 or not could be the topic of a moot discussion, but its place in computing is almost cemented. The timeline could be pushed up even further if newer storage solutions are discovered during this time.

If you’d like to salvage a piece of history, then now might be a good time to pick a new hard drive for memory’s sake. Else you will be left searching for them, just like we do with floppy disks now.

Posted by EngineeringProfit > 3 weeks ago | Report Abuse

SSDs consume less power than HDDs, making them more environmentally friendly and attractive for data centers and consumers looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

With less heat generation, SSDs contribute to lower cooling requirements, further enhancing their environmental and economic appeal.

Posted by calvintaneng > 3 weeks ago | Report Abuse

Seagate pushes back against SSD dominance claims
By Chris Mellor -May 1, 2024

HDD maker Seagate wants us to understand three truths about the myth of SSDs replacing disk drives: SSD prices will not match spinning disk prices, SSD fab capacity won’t match HDD fab capacity, and SSDs are a bad fit for nearline disk workloads.

The points are made in Seagate presentation deck that is effectively a response to Pure Storage CEO Charlie Giancarlo’s assertion that “there won’t be any new disk systems sold in five years,” meaning by the end of 2028. In other words, disk and hybrid array customers could still be buying disk drives after that to replenish existing HDD storage but new storage systems will be flash-based.

We note that Pure is not a commercial SSD supplier, buying in raw NAND chips and building its own Direct Flash Module (DFM) drives. SSD suppliers and NAND manufacturers are not supporting Pure Storage in its claims, at least not publicly.

The disk drive manufacturers – Western Digital, Toshiba and Seagate – think this is wrong. Although SSDs are replacing disk drives in notebooks and desktop computers and also in the enterprise 10.2K 2.5-inch market, they are not replacing high-capacity, 7,200 rpm nearline drives in the enterprise and hyperscaler markets. That’s because the total cost of ownership of SSDs is significantly higher than that of HDDs and will remain so.

Seagate’s pitch deck explains why they think this is true. It identifies three claims:

SSD pricing will soon match the pricing of disk drives
NAND supply can increase to replace all disk drive exabytes
Only all-flash arrays (AFAs) can meet modern enterprise workload performance needs
The Seagate slide deck then rebuts each argument.

Price point
Seagate believes that disk drives will retain a greater than 6:1 $/TB advantage over SSDs through to 2027. The average for the period is 6.6:1, with dips below that happening, but the price differential then recovering.

This is based on its analysis and three reports:

Forward Insights Q323 SSD Insights, August 2023
IDC Worldwide Hard Disk Drive Forecast 2022-2027, April 2023, Doc. #US50568323,
TrendFocus SDAS Long-Term Forecast, August 2023
Partly this is based on Seagate extrapolating disk capacity growth, and that depends upon the HDD makers being able to increase areal density. Equally it depends upon NAND suppliers increasing 3D NAND layer counts and manufacturing capacity. Here’s the chart from Seagate’s deck:

The TCO of HDDs and SSDs is composed of acquisition costs and then running costs, basically meaning power for operation and cooling, and other minor costs. Seagate asserts that SSD TCO is greater than HDD in $/TB terms over the product’s lifetime, saying the disk “price advantage is magnified at scale, where device acquisition cost is by far the most significant element of TCO.”

NAND manufacturing capacity
A NAND fab costs a great deal of money. For example, a coming SK hynix M15X DRAM fab in Korea will cost ₩5.3 trillion ($3.86 billion) and be ready in November 2025. There were 333 EB of NAND manufactured in 2023. TrendForce and IDC analyses predict that 3,686 EB of combined NAND and HDD capacity will be needed in 2027. The NAND industry could build 963 EB of that with HDDs contributing 2,723 EB.

Were that disk contribution to be replaced by NAND, the projected cost would be $206 billion, and Seagate says this makes SSD replacement of HDDs cost-prohibitive, as its chart indicates:

See full message by Seagate

https://blocksandfiles.com/2024/05/01/seagate-is-flash-killing-the-hard-drive-no/#:~:text=HDD%20maker%20Seagate%20wants%20us,fit%20for%20nearline%20disk%20workloads.

Posted by calvintaneng > 3 weeks ago | Report Abuse

seagate

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