News Firm Claims HDDs Can Use Less Power Than SSDs

[bit_user]

Even if it's true, Guess what? People are not going to dump their SSDs and go back to spinning disks.

Do you run a datacenter? If not, then this report isn't meant for you.

To be fair, the article didn't make that clear. So, that's on @zhiyeliu .

 

[InvalidError]

Yeah, sure.

Even if it's true, Guess what? People are not going to dump their SSDs and go back to spinning disks.

If you need PB-scale storage, HDDs do get you there for ~1/6th the up-front cost and since DC-grade SSDs use ~5W a pop when idle, there is almost no difference in idle power draw.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, sure.

Even if it's true, Guess what? People are not going to dump their SSDs and go back to spinning disks.

The ~95TB in or attached to my NAS will remain spinning for a long time.

The house workstations are SSD only, and have been for years.

 

[nightbird321]

Looks like they considered only power draw, not power/read or write. For example, if you needed to read or write 100GB, the SSD will finish way faster than the HDD and return to idle.

 

[InvalidError]

Looks like they considered only power draw, not power/read or write. For example, if you needed to read or write 100GB, the SSD will finish way faster than the HDD and return to idle.

For an online data storage farm, which is what the company publishing the numbers is, the HDDs are likely idle 95+% of the time anyway.

 

[ajs electronics]

This is highly dubious.

Yeah! These figures contend the contrary: https://superuser.com/questions/589709/power-consumption-ssd-vs-hdd

 

[InvalidError]

Yeah! These figures contend the contrary: https://superuser.com/questions/589709/power-consumption-ssd-vs-hdd

0.2-4TB consumer SSDs != 10-30TB enterprise SSDs.

 

[Geef]

They are always going to be using HDDs. Didn't you see the future in the movie Rogue One? They had to steal the data for the death star from a HDD in a server room. 😉

 

[jackt]

then pcie 5 ssds for sure 😆

 

[Co BIY]

They are always going to be using HDDs. Didn't you see the future in the movie Rogue One? They had to steal the data for the death star from a HDD in a server room. 😉

There's a drinking game in that movie involving the appearance of different data storage formats, I'll leave it to someone else to work out the details.

 

[TerryLaze]

There's a drinking game in that movie involving the appearance of different data storage formats, I'll leave it to someone else to work out the details.

Isn't every droid a storage device? Heck, every person's (human or not) brain is a storage device.
You would die from alcohol poisoning.

 

[danny009]

About time, good to see someone finally bashing on the SSDs. They overheat faster too due to small in size.

While most people will claim otherwise, HDDs are always here to save the day. Durable,Larger and don't overheat. Just don't drop em and they will serve you for years.

NVMe SSDs are TRASH btw, heats up like in miliseconds from 41c to 65c. Video editing is impossible on these.

 

[bit_user]

While most people will claim otherwise, HDDs are always here to save the day. Durable,Larger and don't overheat. Just don't drop em and they will serve you for years.

In 2019, I upgraded my home server to some 4 TB WD Gold drives, which is their enterprise product line. There wasn't enough room to have the old and new HDDs in the case at the same time, so I just put the new drives on the table. Each drive was spaced apart from the others, and I might've even propped them up to create space underneath. Anyway, while transferring the data, one drive got to within 1 degree of the specified maximum operating temperature limit, which I think was 60 C, but it might've been a little higher. After I noticed that, I setup a fan to blow on them.

That drive later encountered an unrecoverable error. Had it exceeded the temperature limit, I think it could've jeopardized my ability to do a warranty replacement, because drives contain non-volatile memory which records details like that.

NVMe SSDs are TRASH btw, heats up like in miliseconds from 41c to 65c. Video editing is impossible on these.

NVMe is the protocol, but it doesn't stipulate the form factor. I gather you mean M.2 NVMe drives.

For me, the main selling point of HDDs (besides GB/$) is offline data retention. You can fill a HDD, put it in a drawer, and the data will still be readable in 3-5 years. The same is not true of some SSDs, especially QLC drives.

 

[InvalidError]

About time, good to see someone finally bashing on the SSDs. They overheat faster too due to small in size.

Consumer SSDs overheat because the form factor and typically cramped locations they get stuffed into doesn't allow much more than 5W average power. 10+TB enterprise SSDs are usually in the E3.S form factor which is designed for flow-through cooling and can handle up to 70W.

For me, the main selling point of HDDs (besides GB/$) is offline data retention. You can fill a HDD, put it in a drawer, and the data will still be readable in 3-5 years. The same is not true of some SSDs, especially QLC drives.

How long offline data will survive on an SSD depends on how much wear the cells have already been subjected to and storage temperature. Data on QLC NAND should be able to survive 2-3 years offline, though it may require literally cold storage in a fridge or freezer.

BTW, if you want to passively cool HDDs, you can't just leave them lying flat on a surface as that traps the control board's heat between that surface and the drive. They would likely have been fine if you stood them up on their side for natural convection to act on both the top and bottom, screwing them to metal straps (ex.: the stuff used to support and secure sewer pipes) for even spacing and stability.

 

[bit_user]

BTW, if you want to passively cool HDDs, you can't just leave them lying flat on a surface as that traps the control board's heat between that surface and the drive.

As I said, I'm pretty sure I raised them on some feet or something, because I'm definitely conscious of things like heat building up underneath.

They would likely have been fine if you stood them up on their side for natural convection to act on both the top and bottom,

Once upon a time, there used to be some lore that you should not change the orientation of a HDD between when you format and use it, or mid-life during its operation. I think this is long obsoleted by sophisticated control methods in modern HDDs, but I couldn't completely shake the idea of filling the drives in the same orientation they'd be used.

screwing them to metal straps (ex.: the stuff used to support and secure sewer pipes) for even spacing and stability.

That's a good idea. I'd imagine you could fashion a little drive cage out of those.

 

[danny009]

Yeah, sure.

Even if it's true, Guess what? People are not going to dump their SSDs and go back to spinning disks.

The overpriced iphone 99 Ultra Max Pro in your pocket still uses the same old tech for its battery. People don't moan about that do they?

Battery tech wasnt advanced for like 25 years, big tech knows consumers would just replace it instead of buying a new phone so they don't do anything about the battery.

More you know.

 

[kb7rky]

Yeah, tell that to Western Digital. The 6TB drive I had failed on me six weeks after I installed it in my machine (and now, I'm stuck with a useless HDD, since the return window closed just two weeks before it crashed). I know there's extenuating circumstances regarding WD's reliability as of late (most notably, the recent lawsuit regarding their blatant misrepresentation about they types of HDDs they're manufacturing), but with that said, I went back to my standby...a Crucial 2TB SSD. Power usage be damned...I *NEED* a reliable drive in my computer (as do we all). Crucial has proven, time and again, they they're far better than any mechanical HDD on the market...maybe even better than some SSDs.

 

[RustyBunny]

Its kind of BS. I receintly rebuilt my PC to include 4 - 2 TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe's and 2 - 870 QVO SATA III 2.5" SSD 8TB to replace my one storage drive. All of them combined do not put out as much heat as the old set up, which was 1 - 1 Tb NVMe, 3 - SATA 1 TB internal and one storage Western Digital 5TB internal hard drive.
The new Asus z790 motherboard supports 4 - NVMe and 2 - SATA ports which is perfect. NVME drives have come down allot in price. Spin drives are a thing of the past, flash memory can last decades where a spinner will last up to 3-5 years before it goes out. Samsung's flagship 840 Pro was said it could last 50 years in service.

 

[bit_user]

now, I'm stuck with a useless HDD, since the return window closed just two weeks before it crashed).

It should still have plenty of warranty left. You can at least get a replacement refurb drive.

I went back to my standby...a Crucial 2TB SSD. Power usage be damned...

For a 2 TB consumer SSD, the power usage figures in the article do not apply. They were specifically talking about a 30 TB QLC datacenter SSD, though their point applies to datacenter SSDs more generally.

Its kind of BS. I receintly rebuilt my PC to include 4 - 2 TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe's and 2 - 870 QVO SATA III 2.5" SSD 8TB to replace my one storage drive. All of them combined do not put out as much heat as the old set up, which was 1 - 1 Tb NVMe, 3 - SATA 1 TB internal and one storage Western Digital 5TB internal hard drive.

The study is not talking about consumer SSDs. Unfortunately, the article failed to clearly point this out.

Samsung's flagship 840 Pro was said it could last 50 years in service.

I don't know if that's true, but it seems their reliability has fallen a lot, since then.

 

[InvalidError]

Once upon a time, there used to be some lore that you should not change the orientation of a HDD between when you format and use it, or mid-life during its operation. I think this is long obsoleted by sophisticated control methods in modern HDDs, but I couldn't completely shake the idea of filling the drives in the same orientation they'd be used.

HDDs rely on tracking markers embedded in the platters to calibrate head movement whenever necessary. I don't remember drive orientation being a concern ever since HDDs that can be mounted on their side became standard. IIRC, the main thing limiting drive orientation even back then was bearing lubrication.

I *NEED* a reliable drive in my computer (as do we all). Crucial has proven, time and again, they they're far better than any mechanical HDD on the market...maybe even better than some SSDs.

Blackblaze's 2022 report says their SSDs (which they are mostly using as boot drives) aren't that much more reliable than their HDDs. Most of their SSDs weren't even two years old at the time, things may change quite a bit by the time their 2023 report comes out.

Spin drives are a thing of the past, flash memory can last decades where a spinner will last up to 3-5 years before it goes out.

I have a 10 years old 1TB WD Black HDD with 73k power-on hours in my PC, still in perfect working order as far as SMART status can tell. If your drives consistently fail within five years, either something is wrong with the operating environment or you should quit buying Seagate drives.

My quickest out-of-warranty failure was a Seagate 1TB HDD which lasted only four years. After that is a 1TB WD Blue that lasted for only six.

My most recent HDD failure was a ~15 years old 200GB Maxtor one I had in my living room PC, wasn't being used for anything important and was replaced with a slightly newer 250GB Maxtor spare.

 

[friar tuck]

This article uses the wrong metric for energy consumption. Watts do not take into consideration the time to do a disk operation.

If, for instance, you were reading at HDD saturation, say 6000MB blocks (for this example) you would use ~183 watt-seconds of energy (over 21s), while to do the same work, the SSD would use 14.5 watt-seconds(in 1s). The SSD uses less energy at idle too.

 

[sitehostplus]

Storage provider Scality compares the power efficiency between high-density HDDs and QLC SSDs.

Firm Claims HDDs Can Use Less Power Than SSDs : Read more

That claim doesn't even pass a smell test, let alone a real power usage test.

For me to believe that I would have to believe that platter motors, and head servo motors use less power than an array of transistors. You would need a LOT of transistors (compared to a small HDD) for that to be even close to true.

In other words, this has to be a late April Fools joke. Or the joke is on them.