本文由半导体产业纵横（ID：ICVIEWS）编译自techtarget
The massive increase in SSD capacity will lead to changes not only in the SSD market, but also in the HDD market.
Companies that value cheap data storage tend to choose hard disk drives (HDDs) over solid-state drives (SSDs), and as long as SSDs and HDDs continue to compete for greater capacity of 20TB and 30TB, this trend will not change much. Interestingly, the capacity of SSDs is expected to far exceed this level. What will happen?
Will a high-capacity SSD make the hard drive "disappear"?
In the SSD market, the current situation is that high-capacity (e.g., 30 TB) products are being introduced. The scale of development in the future will be different. Storage system vendor Pure Storage has revealed plans to develop a 300 TB capacity SSD by 2026. This will have a significant impact on the SSD and HDD storage market.
Most storage system vendors view storage devices such as SSDs and HDDs as general-purpose products, and innovation in storage systems is software-driven. Pure Storage's focus is on device-oriented innovation. The company's goal is to achieve a storage capacity of 300 TB using a module of its own design, the DirectFlashModule (DFM), which is equivalent to an SSD. This approach is unique.
Pure Storage's strategy will give it a competitive advantage, and its strategy will give the company a competitive advantage.
The massive increase in SSD capacity will lead to changes not only in the SSD market, but also in the HDD market. In general, SSDs tend to cost more per unit of capacity than HDDs, and many companies choose HDDs because they are cheaper. However, the 300TB capacity is different, which may prompt companies that previously opted for HDDs to consider investing in SSDs, as SSDs can read and write data faster than HDDs, even at a higher cost.
Some experts believe that the investment in 300TB SSDs will not be as strong as expected. Randv Kearns, a senior strategist and analyst at research firm Evaluator Group, said, "It's unlikely we're going to see enough adoption in the short term to convince companies that it's time to move away from HDDs." Randy Kearns, senior strategist and analyst at research firm Evaluator Group, noted. Unless SSDs become mainstream, cost-conscious companies will always opt for cheaper storage devices.
Ultra-high-capacity SSDs wipe out the benefits of hard drives
Hard drives have large capacity and low cost, while SSDs are fast. With SSDs in capacities well over 100 TB and on the verge of surpassing HDDs in capacity, what impact will ultra-high-capacity SSDs have on the storage market?
Will ultra-high-capacity SSDs make the drive reach a tipping point? Pure Storage released FlashBlade//E all-flash storage in March 2023. At that time, the company explained the roadmap for the DirectFlash Module (DFM) module of its own design. It is expected that by the end of 2023, the capacity per DFM will increase from the current 48TB to 100TB.
Pure Storage's plans won't stop at 100 TB, as it has announced its intention to reach 300 TB of DFM capacity by 2026. Increasing capacity to this scale will have a significant impact on the SSD and HDD market.
The potential influencing factor is first and foremost related to the trend of SSD unit capacity prices approaching HDDs: the rapid growth of SSD capacity may shorten the time it takes for SSDs and HDDs to converge on unit capacity prices.
In addition to this, Evans points out that Pure Storage's offerings may put other products at a disadvantage in terms of scalability. For example, using a 30TB SSD is completely different from using a 300TB SDD because the scale of expansion is completely different. "If other storage vendors stick with the 30TB product, they can't compete in terms of scalability," he said.
For businesses, the increase in SSD capacity is a good thing. They must consider larger storage-system configurations. Equally important, the capacity for data protection tends to be greater.
With the development of 300TB SSDs, Pure Storage has the potential to become a driving force in the storage market. What's more, the company's in-house developed equipment and software feature a rarity that is rare among other storage vendors, with competitors such as Dell Technologies essentially sourcing SSDs from partners to provide storage systems.
Pure Storage won't launch a 300TB SSD until 2026, which is a long way off. In the interim, it is unlikely that another move to change the storage market will emerge. In fact, there are signs of this. For instance, Samsung Electronics showcased a 128TB capacity SSD at the Flash Memory Summit 2022. Details about pricing and listing were not disclosed, and the impact is unknown.
What are the key points of ultra-high-capacity SSDs?
SSDs are gaining capacity, which is great news for companies that are struggling to cope with the growing volume of data. There is news that in the future, SSDs will have a capacity of well over 100 terabytes, and the existence of SSDs will only increase. However, companies should not be complacent.
The ever-increasing capacity of SSDs and the dense configuration of SSDs in storage systems make it easier for companies to store larger amounts of data. On the other hand, it should be noted that the ability to read and write data faster depends on the storage interface.
As an interface standard, the current trend is to increase speed, including the introduction of PCle 5.0 and PCle 6.0. The data transfer rate of PCle has basically doubled with each generation. The performance limitations of SSDs are mitigated.
Pure Storage's goal is to increase the capacity of its DirectFlash Module (DFM), a proprietary module that is housed in the storage system, to 300 TB. Pure Storage is developing the DirectFlash Module (DFM), a self-designed module that will be installed in a 300TB storage system. It is expected that by 2026, PCle 6.0 and PCLE 7.0 will achieve interface evolution.
Another caveat for increased storage capacity is the possibility of longer rebuild times. Scott Sinclair, practice director of research at TechTarget's U.S. Corporate Strategy Group (ESG), believes there is room for solutions to this problem. SSDs that incorporate the PCle standard in their interface can take advantage of the high speed of the interface to reduce rebuild time, while drives that use a different interface to PCle are unlikely to reap the same benefits.
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