Author: Karin Gilles, Corporate Communications,
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Data center workloads have increased exponentially in recent years, requiring IT managers to find new ways of scaling their enterprise storage resources so that they are both highly reliable and cost effective. With the introduction of complementary serial interface technologies, IT managers now have the flexibility to deploy either high-performance Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives or cost-effective Serial ATA (SATA) drives (or both) in a SAS environment.
This approach to tiered storage allows IT managers to control costs and pair the less frequently used data with lower cost-per-gigabyte hard drives, while freeing high-performance SAS drive resources for mission-critical applications.
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies provides customers with a complete enterprise serial solution using the proven combination of the leading Ultrastar® enterprise-class products and high-capacity, high-reliability Deskstar® E7K500 SATA hard drives specifically tuned for nearline storage.
Hitachi has been at the forefront of SAS development with the Ultrastar 15K147—Hitachi’s highest performing enterprise hard drive with capacities up to 147 GB. The Ultrastar 15K147 is built on a mature design platform that provides greater reliability and faster qualification time.
Figure 1 – Hitachi Ultrastar 15K147 SAS Hard Drive
The Ultrastar 15K147 delivers average seek times as fast as 3.3 ms, and at 15,000 RPM, as much as 33 percent more I/Os per second than comparable 10,000 RPM products. A large 16MB cache size minimizes command overhead.
Hitachi has combined several design attributes to ensure customer data protection. Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) technology is used to ensure drive performance in the high rotational vibration environments that exist in multi-drive configurations. Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motors deliver improved data integrity, plus the Ultrastar 15K147 utilizes a head load/unload ramp to minimize the chance of hard-drive damage during integration.
The Deskstar E7K500 SATA hard drive combines 500GB storage capacity and enterprise-class reliability at an attractive price point. It features capabilities such as RVS and staggered or delayed spin-up. The latter enables the host to spin up drives in multi-drive configurations and optional low-power modes to reduce system heat and cooling requirements. As with the Ultrastar 15K147, the Deskstar E7K500 also utilizes a load/unload ramp mechanism.
Figure 2 – Hitachi Deskstar E7K500 SATA Hard Drive
Together, the Ultrastar 15K147 SAS enterprise drive and the Deskstar E7K500 SATA hard drive for nearline applications, provide customers with a complete serial storage solution for a variety of enterprise storage requirements.
The direction of the market supports the premise that SAS will continue to reach higher levels of industry adoption in the future. The enterprise storage market will be made up of a mix of SAS 15,000 RPM 3.5-inch hard drives (used in storage subsystems), small form factor (2.5-inch) 10,000 RPM hard drives (for server and RAID arrays), and high-capacity 3.5-inch SATA hard drives for nearline storage. This mix of product options will allow customers to better optimize total cost of ownership in the enterprise. Going forward, Hitachi will continue to demonstrate enterprise portfolio strength through continuous product innovation.
For additional information about the Hitachi Ultrastar 15K147 and the Deskstar E7K500, please visit:
