Primary storage devices
Primary storage devices refer to storage hardware for data in active use, in contrast to storage used for backup purposes. They include SAN and NAS primary storage devices, non-volatile flash storage and other types of storage media. Find resources about primary storage and storage hardware, including RAID arrays and storage arrays, on this topic page.
Top Stories
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Feature
04 Dec 2023
Lack of new data storage hardware in 2023 unsurprising
While software development and partner integrations sped up in 2023, data storage hardware innovation appeared to slow down. Industry experts weigh in on why. Continue Reading
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News
01 Dec 2023
S3 Express One Zone set to power generative AI workloads
Andy Warfield of AWS Storage breaks down the new AWS S3 tier of fast object storage and discusses future S3 development in a session at the vendor's re:Invent 2023 conference. Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2023
Nashville Electric selects Pure Storage to provide power
A Nashville-based power company decided to migrate off an outdated, ill-fitting Dell storage system to something more modern and more reasonable. Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2023
IXsystems flagship array goes all-NVMe flash
The F-Series storage array family is now all-NVMe, bringing new levels of performance and density to IXsystems flagship array as it adds a new option in the NAS storage market. Continue Reading
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Feature
15 Nov 2023
Comparing RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and 50 explained
RAID protects data and improves storage performance and availability, but it can be confusing. Read about the different levels of RAID, the pros and cons, and where they work best. Continue Reading
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News
08 Nov 2023
DDN Infinia expands storage around HPC, AI
DDN has created a new software-defined object storage product, Infinia, for AI and HPC secondary storage. The tech can also be applied to some enterprise storage use cases. Continue Reading
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News
02 Nov 2023
New IBM Storage Scale focuses on AI, HPC
Adding to the growing list of storage for AI, IBM Storage Scale System 6000 brings the vendor's parallel file system as well as nearly a ronnabyte of capacity to a single cluster. Continue Reading
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News
30 Oct 2023
Western Digital to split flash, HDD business units in two
Western Digital will spin off its flash storage business into a separate company by the second half of 2024, leaving hard drives under the WD banner. Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2023
NetApp adds new flash hardware, debuts VMware DR service
The enterprise storage vendor continues its hybrid cloud portfolio push with capacity flash for the ASA hardware family and bolts a VMware DR service to its BlueXP console. Continue Reading
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News
18 Oct 2023
Dell PowerMaxOS 10.1 targets operational, energy efficiency
The latest Dell PowerMaxOS update brings greater data reduction and power usage monitoring to its top-of-the-line storage array. The update also keyed in on cyber-resilience. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Sep 2023
TD Securities chooses Dell PowerMax to grow with it
Looking at high-end block storage systems for high transactional needs, a Canadian wholesale bank decided to tap Dell PowerMax as an investment for current and future business. Continue Reading
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News
30 Aug 2023
StorCentric winds down, Nexsan stands out
StorCentric's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing pushed the storage conglomerate and the companies it acquired into limbo. Now one of those companies might find new footing. Continue Reading
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Opinion
31 Jul 2023
Lenovo's latest heavy on flash, security for enterprise storage
Lenovo's concentration on QLC flash, hybrid cloud and ransomware protection in its latest hardware and software offerings should aid enterprise buyers. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Jul 2023
Storage in space? The data's already there
As research and businesses become more established in space, data storage needs are growing. Vendors are building for the otherworldly conditions and keeping an eye on the moon. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jun 2023
Charge trap technology advantages for 3D NAND flash drives
Flash drive cells based on charge trap technology have several advantages over older floating gate cells. However, take note of potential reliability issues. Continue Reading
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News
14 Jun 2023
Pure takes aim at HDDs with FlashArray for colder storage
Pure Storage added a new, cost-efficient model to its FlashArray line expanding potential uses cases. It's also rolling out new controller upgrades and data protection SLAs. Continue Reading
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News
22 May 2023
NetApp rolls out new ASA block storage, recovery guarantee
NetApp's latest update includes a new line of all-flash SAN, an expansion of its OnTap software to all storage systems and a ransomware recovery guarantee. Continue Reading
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News
18 May 2023
DDN launches all-QLC ExaScaler
The all-QLC ExaScaler scale-out parallel file system from DDN slots in between performance and costs. It comes at a time when AI workloads are on the rise. Continue Reading
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News
11 May 2023
Dell PowerStore zeros in on security, energy efficiency
Dell has added a handful of security features and integrations to PowerStore through an OS update, while obtaining Energy Star certification for two of its PowerStore models. Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2023
Pure unifies block, file storage on single FlashArray
Pure Storage expanded the unified storage market by granting native file, block and VM support on a FlashArray, which could reduce complexity and costs for some customers. Continue Reading
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News
25 Apr 2023
A fine, earnings and new tech for Seagate
Seagate faces a $300 million fine for selling HDDs to Huawei and reported less than stellar earnings, but it continues to press forward on HDD technology. Continue Reading
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News
20 Apr 2023
HPE brings multi-protocol Alletra storage to GreenLake
HPE's newest addition to its Alletra portfolio supports block, file and object protocols. It reflects a shift toward simplification and commoditization in storage hardware. Continue Reading
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News
11 Apr 2023
Quantum containerizes file, object storage
In a shift for Quantum Corp., the vendor is now competing in the file and object storage market with its all-flash, software-defined, scale-out Myriad offering. Continue Reading
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News
30 Mar 2023
Toshiba's $15B buyout won't affect storage businesses
The acquisition, pending shareholder approval, would take Toshiba private, a move experts say could help stabilize the company, which has been searching for a path forward. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 Mar 2023
NFS vs. CIFS vs. SMB: What are the differences?
There are stark differences among file sharing protocols NFS, CIFS and SMB. Compare access, application deployment, configuration and security, among other key features. Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2023
Western Digital releases dual-actuator HDDs
WD has quietly released a dual-actuator HDD, bringing dense drives with higher transfer rates, but customers can't reap the full benefits just yet. Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2023
NetApp adds storage buying options, arrays
NetApp introduces a myriad of buying options and hybrid cloud capabilities for VMware workloads on Google Cloud. Soon-to-come: new QLC all-flash arrays. Continue Reading
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News
01 Feb 2023
Hard drives fall on hard times
Hard drive manufacturers have had a couple of bad quarters due to the lingering effects of the pandemic and supply chain issues, but see a turning point on the horizon. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Jan 2023
Storage vendors look to make case for sustainability
Energy costs are rising, and sustainability is all the rage. But storage vendors may struggle convincing customers to combat climate change during an economic downturn. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jan 2023
Fibre Channel vs. iSCSI: What are the differences?
Discover how Fibre Channel and iSCSI compare when it comes to meeting SAN performance, ease of use, manageability, total package and TCO requirements. Continue Reading
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News
18 Jan 2023
HPE expands Alletra with focused storage servers
HPE released new storage servers for container and software-defined storage with the Alletra 4000. The new servers bring high compute with new Intel CPUs in a denser package. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Jan 2023
Data growth to help storage vendors weather slowing economy
The economy may be slowing down, but reliance on data isn't -- a reality that might help enterprise storage vendors wade through economic turbulence in 2023. Continue Reading
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News
22 Dec 2022
RackTop Systems, Seagate deepen partnership for secure NAS
RackTop Systems and Seagate are offering more in turnkey storage appliances and private cloud integration, combining security software into primary storage devices. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Dec 2022
Automation company swaps Isilon for software-defined storage
The Swedish automation company Hexagon needed super scale and performance for its files. The new SDS upgrade speeds up customer response times. Continue Reading
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Answer
22 Nov 2022
SAN vs. NAS vs. DAS: Key differences and best use cases
Compare SAN, NAS and DAS and find out what to consider when using each type of storage system. Object storage and the cloud are additional available storage options. Continue Reading
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News
22 Nov 2022
Scality's Ring9 adds NVMe storage tier, new APIs
Scality Ring introduces its ninth major update, bringing an all-NVMe tier for better performance and new APIs for tighter integration to tools and third-party applications. Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2022
Seagate quietly expands multi-actuator HDD product line
Seagate has added to its multi-actuator line of Exos 2X HDDs, now offering up to 18 TB in capacity in its attempt to start paving the way for future use cases. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 Nov 2022
A comparison of distributed file systems
There are many different distributed file systems available, so careful analysis of the options, as well as good project management, helps ensure a successful installation. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Oct 2022
Stay organized with 6 file storage best practices
File storage can quickly become disorganized without organizational planning. Use best practices like retention policies and naming conventions to easily manage file storage. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 Oct 2022
7 NAS encryption best practices to protect data
Data storage security is as important now as it's ever been. Encryption is one way to make NAS devices more secure against such threats as ransomware. Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2022
IBM introduces Diamondback tape library for cloud providers
IBM's Diamondback tape library delivers 27 PB of capacity in a single rack space. The technology is geared to cloud and service providers as cheap, efficient storage. Continue Reading
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News
04 Oct 2022
IBM integrates Red Hat storage for hybrid cloud
IBM storage has integrated Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation and Ceph into its new hybrid cloud data storage offering. Analysts said the move is good for both vendors. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Sep 2022
4 NAS devices for enterprises in 2023
If you're considering a NAS device for your organization, discover the factors to evaluate and some vendor offerings to add to your NAS shopping list. Continue Reading
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News
26 Sep 2022
HPE expands Alletra with lower prices and more options
HPE added the hybrid Alletra 5000 to its block storage portfolio and GreenLake, giving customers more capacity and more consumption options while lowering costs. Continue Reading
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News
26 Sep 2022
Lenovo launches entry-level block storage arrays
Lenovo has released to the entry-level market new all-flash and hybrid arrays, which provide companies with a boost in previous performance, and has unified hardware management. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Sep 2022
How to set up a NAS: A step-by-step configuration guide
Get the most out of your rackmount NAS appliance by configuring admin accounts, permissions and network access; running a diagnostic check; and configuring advanced options. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Sep 2022
NAS vs. cloud storage: Which is better for your business?
On-site NAS and cloud-based NAS are the two main file storage options. Organizations need to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each to make the best choice. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Sep 2022
Consider the advantages and disadvantages of NAS
NAS devices provide file sharing that is easy to manage but may be harder to scale than other storage types. Get to know the advantages and disadvantages of NAS. Continue Reading
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Answer
07 Sep 2022
NAS vs. object storage: What's best for unstructured data storage?
There are advantages and disadvantages to using NAS or object storage for unstructured data. Find out what to consider when it comes to scalability, performance and workload type. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Aug 2022
7 guidelines to secure network storage
These practices, including firmware and VPN guidance, protect NAS devices. Use these steps as standalone procedures or incorporate them into your overall security process. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Aug 2022
Explore 7 software-defined storage companies
Software-defined storage offerings are all over the map, in uses, features and types of platform. These seven software-defined storage companies include several IT giants. Continue Reading
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News
18 Aug 2022
Infinidat guarantees 1-minute restore of primary storage
Infinidat has several guarantees around availability and performance, as well as the ability to recover and restore an immutable snapshot on primary storage in less than a minute. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 Aug 2022
Differences in scale-up vs. scale-out storage
Scaling up and scaling out are both approaches to increase storage capacity. To decide which approach to take, consider short- and long-term requirements. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Jul 2022
A primer on disaggregated storage
Disaggregated storage enables organizations to scale compute and storage separately for high-performance, low-latency workloads. Some benefits are cost savings and flexibility. Continue Reading
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News
25 Jul 2022
Biotech company saves on data management through software
Biotech maker PacBio gleaned big savings and organized a mountain of data when it added data management tools for its local hardware and data silos. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jul 2022
StorCentric files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Rapid acquisitions followed by supply chain issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic led StorCentric to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an effort to restructure. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Jun 2022
Key features of a distributed file system
Distributed file systems enable users to access file data that is spread across multiple storage servers. A DFS should uphold data integrity and be secure and scalable. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jun 2022
Weka adds multi-cloud support for AI, ML apps
With Weka 4.0, the parallel file system provider will support four major public cloud vendors while consolidating high performance workloads and adding a data reduction feature. Continue Reading
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News
14 Jun 2022
StorOne connects HDDs with NVMe-oF
StorOne extended NVMe-oF to SAS HDDs, bringing some of the NVMe benefits to the older technology before NVMe hard drives hit the market while reducing costs of NVMe-oF. Continue Reading
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Opinion
14 Jun 2022
Pure Storage's focus shines at Pure Accelerate 2022
At Pure Accelerate 2022, Pure Storage displayed its continued investment in R&D, coupled with new product releases. The vendor should continue to make a splash in flash. Continue Reading
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News
01 Jun 2022
Nexsan introduces compact rackmount NAS for edge storage
Nexsan has introduced a new NAS for SMB edge storage use cases. One analyst believes the move is good but will present its own challenges to the vendor. Continue Reading
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News
11 May 2022
Western Digital ups the ante with 26 TB HDDs, new SSDs
Western Digital expanded its cloud storage devices with two new HDDs, a CMR drive with 22 TB and an SMR drive with 26 TB, and a new SSD form factor. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Apr 2022
School district sheds Dell EqualLogic for DDN
Simsbury Public Schools brought in two DDN arrays that helped the district speed up its VDI environment and reduce its IT footprint at a better cost. Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2022
Infinidat boosts its all-flash storage with InfiniBox SSA II
Infinidat released a new all-flash array with an updated operating system and added InfiniSafe data protection to all its arrays. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Mar 2022
SSD vs. SSHD vs. HDD: Which one is best?
Hybrid drives promise fast, cost-effective performance for primary and secondary storage. Here's what you need to know about the benefits and drawbacks compared to SSDs and HDDs. Continue Reading
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News
22 Mar 2022
Vast Data unveils new storage platform built on Nvidia DPUs
Vast Data's Ceres combines the vendor's Universal Storage system with data processing units, which provide denser, more efficient storage targeted at AI workloads. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Mar 2022
Composable infrastructure providers tackle modern workloads
Composable infrastructure vendors include titans in IT like Dell and HPE, but also startups such as Fungible and Liqid. Explore product features and the tech's pros and cons. Continue Reading
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News
25 Feb 2022
Performance, capacity tick up with Dell PowerVault ME5
Dell Technologies modernized its entry-level storage with the new Dell PowerVault ME5, bringing more performance, capacity and ease of use for its SMB customers. Continue Reading
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News
23 Feb 2022
Hitachi Vantara simplifies hybrid cloud storage
Hitachi Vantara is now providing customers a path to the hybrid cloud with software-defined storage and colocation. It also unveiled a new midrange storage offering. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Feb 2022
The best enterprise storage arrays of 2021
Tintri, Infinidat and Dell EMC enterprise arrays win top honors in the Products of the Year disk and disk subsystems category for their use of flash and automation. Continue Reading
- E-Zine 14 Feb 2022
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News
14 Feb 2022
Ruggedized storage takes autonomous vehicle research to edge
Mississippi State University's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems selected Quantum Corp.'s R-Series SSDs to collect sensor data at the edge. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Jan 2022
Hard disk drives to remain dominant storage media in 2022
Hard disk drives are increasing in density and maintaining a lower price point than alternatives, but flash is gaining ground. Here, experts sound off on the fate of HDDs in 2022. Continue Reading
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News
19 Jan 2022
Dell Apex introduces new multi-cloud management tools
Dell is adding more capabilities to its Dell Apex cloud as-as-service portfolio, which are billed as tools to simplify and manage a multi-cloud infrastructure. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Dec 2021
Best options for video data storage include cloud, tape
Video data storage presents some challenges, such as dealing with large file sizes and compliance. Here's what to consider when assessing storage options for video data. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Dec 2021
5 tips for primary storage ransomware protection
Explore the steps storage administrators can take to safeguard against ransomware. Dive deep into tips on access control, vulnerabilities and storage monitoring. Continue Reading
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News
14 Dec 2021
Nexsan Unity 7.0 boosts security, performance
StorCentric's unified storage product line, Nexsan Unity, hits version 7.0 and brings more protocol support, security features and performance for existing hardware. Continue Reading
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News
03 Dec 2021
Seagate's 20 TB hard drives ship
Seagate has pumped its max-capacity hard drive up to 20 TB, with a version for the enterprise, Exos X20, and another for SMBs, IronWolf Pro 20 TB. Continue Reading
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News
12 Nov 2021
Seagate debuts NVMe HDD technology at OCP
Seagate demonstrated NVMe HDD technology, showing off its stability and its potential benefits. Customers can see a reduction in complexity and a step toward composability. Continue Reading
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News
28 Oct 2021
Upgrades to Vast Data OS emphasize simplicity, security
Vast Data released VastOS 4, which includes security features such as indestructible data snapshots and visualization tools aimed at making storage simpler to use and manage. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Oct 2021
What is SAN zoning and what are the different types of zoning?
Zoning can be set up according to server, storage and SAN switch. Discover what type of zoning to use, how zone sets extend SAN segmentation and the various zoning schemas. Continue Reading
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Answer
05 Oct 2021
TB vs. GB: Is a terabyte bigger than a gigabyte?
A terabyte comprises more than 1 trillion bytes. Discover how the storage measurement scale was created and where a terabyte stands among other units of measurement today. Continue Reading
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Guest Post
30 Sep 2021
Computational storage: Go beyond computation offloading
Computational storage proponents include academia and the Storage Networking Industry Association. While there's behind-the-scenes work still to do, the tech could bring benefits. Continue Reading
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News
31 Aug 2021
Western Digital OptiNAND stretches HDD capacity, performance
Western Digital unveiled a new storage drive architecture for hard drives that improves capacity, performance and reliability via an embedded flash drive to store metadata. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Jul 2021
AHCI vs. RAID: Which is better for performance?
The Advanced Host Controller Interface and RAID are fundamental concepts for running an efficient data management and storage infrastructure. Learn the AHCI and RAID basics. Continue Reading
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Opinion
12 Jul 2021
Next-generation PCIe key to composable infrastructure progress
High-performance computing and AI environments are just two strong uses for composable architecture. Explore benefits and drawbacks of PCIe in composable systems. Continue Reading
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News
24 Jun 2021
New Seagate Exos storage uses self-healing drive technology
Seagate's Exos Corvault petabyte-scale storage array introduces self-healing HDD capabilities to ease maintenance and adds erasure coding to protect data at lower overhead. Continue Reading
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Feature
17 May 2021
Build a cloud-ready, global distributed file system
Organizations that want to extend traditional network file shares across data centers, branch offices and public cloud infrastructure have many options. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Apr 2021
A primer on DNA data storage and its potential uses
DNA storage isn't just a futuristic concept -- many companies are actively involved in its development and promotion. There's a major use case in data archiving. Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2021
Quantum updates StorNext architecture and appliance lineup
Quantum distilled its StorNext file system down to a single 2U appliance. The new H4000 promises easier deployment without losing StorNext's speed or data management capabilities. Continue Reading
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News
20 Apr 2021
Dell EMC speeds up PowerStore array, debuts lower-cost model
Dell Technologies launches new lower-cost PowerStore entry model and PowerStore software updates to enhance performance, automation, NVMe over Fibre Channel and Optane support. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Apr 2021
Quobyte CEO says customers need a scale-out mindset
In order to tackle AI, machine learning and other demanding workloads, enterprises need to break out of their appliance-centric approach to storage, according to Quobyte's CEO. Continue Reading
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Tip
12 Apr 2021
8 best practices for SAN deployment within SMBs
SMBs face a number of challenges when planning and performing a SAN implementation. Get out in front of an often intricate process with these best practices. Continue Reading
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News
29 Mar 2021
Iridia CEO sees data storage future written in DNA
As investors show interest in Iridia's DNA chip technology, its CEO believes using synthetic DNA for data storage will be the way to tackle a yottabyte future. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Mar 2021
7 signs a small business should shift from NAS to SAN
Take a deep dive into seven reasons, including performance issues and scalability demands, an SMB would want to ditch NAS in favor of entry-level SAN. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Feb 2021
Compare entry-level SAN arrays for the SMB market
Performance, capacity and data protection features are a few of the many factors SMB organizations should consider in their comparisons of entry-level SANs. Continue Reading
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Opinion
14 Feb 2021
Pay-per-use pricing model can boost digital initiatives
Consumption IT shifts the burden of infrastructure support to vendors and expenditures from Capex to Opex. Can pay-per-use pricing keep pace with your digital business roadmap? Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Feb 2021
The best enterprise storage arrays of 2020
Vast Data, Dell EMC and Infinidat show that flash storage rules the data center in the 'Storage' magazine and SearchStorage Products of the Year 2020 disk and disk subsystems category. Continue Reading
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Infographic
14 Feb 2021
Efficient data storage tips to achieve a green data center
This illustrated guide to energy-efficient data storage offers tips on offloading data to the cloud and areas to review when estimating storage costs. Continue Reading
- 14 Feb 2021
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News
12 Feb 2021
IBM, LucidLink the latest to tackle cloud file storage
Startup LucidLink has bundled its Filespaces file system with IBM's Cloud Object Storage offerings. Distributed work teams can access shared data as network-attached storage. Continue Reading
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News
03 Feb 2021
Panasas storage yearns for expanded enterprise presence
After six years as chief operating officer, Panasas CEO Tom Shea took the helm last year to pilot the company's storage roadmap. Continue Reading
