As technology advances squeeze more and more data onto disk drives, reliability and power savings grow in importance

It’s getting more difficult to cram more bits of data onto the same size disk drives, but storage has continued to follow Moore’s Law, doubling capacity every two years. Yet more storage space per disk means more chance for errors occurring. Prices continue to drop for hard disk drives, as well as for solid-state drives (technically not disks because they don’t contain spinning parts), though SSDs are still too expensive for many organizations. SAS and SATA drives are outpacing the use of older FC drives in tiered storage systems, and used in combination with SSDs they can offer performance gains, especially for transactional applications.

The 3.5” form factor drive still maintains a large market share, but there’s a gradual transition to 2.5” drives, which are more energy efficient. Saving power is a trend in disk storage, as the push toward green data centers continues. Emerging power-saving technologies include capabilities that allow for selective spindown on drives that aren’t in use. And data crunching techniques like compression and deduplication, along with encryption, are moving onto the hard drive itself. The use of RAID keeps changing, as RAID 6 or object-based RAID may make more sense for large capacity disks than previously popular RAID 5.

Best-in-Class Storage Disks and Drives Features:

• Embraces green storage trends, with intelligence devices that can perform automatic spindown when drives aren’t in use
• Increasingly reliable disks, even in large multi-terabyte capacities
• Offer features like deduplication or encryption embedded within drives, and capacity to use SSD, SAS or SATA in some combination

Top Considerations before Buying Storage Disks and Drives Products:

Looking ahead in the storage disk and drive market involves a continued push toward more capacity for less money, but reliability and lower error rates will come into play too.

New technologies to expand disk capacity may include bit-patterned media (BPM), heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) and microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) to keep moving disks into the terabyte-size range as current perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) reaches its technical limits. Encryption and other advanced features will keep moving into HDDs. The 2.5” form factor continues gaining popularity, as do SAS and SATA drives and SSD, including RAM SSD.

Key Products:

1. Tandberg Data is a global storage solutions company, specializing in tape drives, tape automation, removable disk, disk-based backup and media and rackmounts. Tandberg’s RDX QuikStor offers storage for backup, archive, data interchange and disaster recovery. Their AccuGuard data protection software performs data deduplication, optimizing data at the source for improved backup windows and bandwidth use. Tandberg’s tape drive options are based on DAT, LTO, SLR or VXA technologies.

2. MagicRAM is a supplier of PC Card products and data storage solutions based on flash memory for markets such as mobile computing, embedded systems, military/rugged applications, PCs and laptops. Their product line includes Industrial Solid-State Disk options, using NAND flash; Industrial MicroFlash, using single-level cell (SLC) components; Industrial Grade CompactFlash (CF), using highly reliable SLC components; Industrial PC Card products like ATA flash, linear flash and SRAM cards; and Industrial Grade Secure Digital (SD), mini SD and micro SD, built with NAND components.

3. Quantum is a storage provider, delivering backup, recovery and archive solutions. They offer tape drives, tape libraries, disk backup systems and data sharing and archiving software. Disk backup systems are designed for different market segments: for example, the DXi7500 Enterprise supports corporate data centers, while the DXi6500 Family works for the midrange and DXi2500-D protects branch offices and smaller data centers. All DXi appliances contain deduplication functionality.

4. SEPATON helps organizations to comply with demanding data storage and retrieval requirements with products based on their DeltaScale architecture, which provides management control, performance and scalability. Their S2100 virtual tape library (VTL) backs up and deduplicates massive amounts of data. The SEPATON Dynamic Disk File System performs automatic load balancing and capacity optimization, while Replication Engines offer modular processing nodes that deliver backup and restore performance.

5. Worldspan Communications specializes in selling all types of hard drives, CD/DVD, controllers, enclosures and backup software. Worldspan offers both internal and external hard drives, external drive cases, bridge boards and docking, drive duplicators, ATA, SATA, SAS cables, converters and other accessories, and more. Drive duplicators include HD duplicators, disk copiers and drive to drive kits. Worldspan’s backup products range from several types of disk to disk to a variety of tape options.

Storage Disks and Drives
Definition: Disk storage is a general category of storage mechanisms, in which data are digitally recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical methods on a surface layer deposited of one or more planar, round and rotating platters. A disk drive is a device implementing such a storage mechanism with fixed or removable media; with removable media the device is usually distinguished from the media as in compact disc drive and the compact disc.