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Storage: Google Pushes for Redesign of Disks to Optimize for Data Center/Cloud Use
Google is calling on the storage industry to develop hard drives that are designed with cloud computing in mind. Current drive designs are based on the requirement of very high reliability for desktop and laptop computer use. To accommodate that requirement, next generation drives for personal computers are shifting to use solid state for better speed and reliability, but those drives are considerably more expensive.
When hard drives are used in groups, especially in the cloud, reliability becomes less important, and cost becomes a bigger factor.
Eric Brewer, UC Berkeley and Scientist, said that “the current 3.5in HDD geometry was adopted for historic reasons – its size inherited from the PC floppy disk. An alternative form factor should yield a better TCO [total cost of ownership] Changing the form factor is a long-term process that requires a broad discussion, but we believe it should be considered. Although we could spec our own for factor (with high volume), the underlying issues extend beyond Google, and developing new solutions together will better serve the whole industry, especially once standardised… Current disks have a relatively small fixed height: typically 1 inch for 3.5in disks, and 16mm for 2.5in drives. Taller drives allow for more platters per disk, which adds capacity and amortizes of the costs of packaging, the printed-circuit board and the driver motor/actuator… We hope this is the beginning of a new era of ‘data center’ disks.”
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