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Intel Announces the 'World's Densest' SSD (zdnet.com)
Intel has unveiled its new 3D NAND solid-state drive (SSD) "ruler" form factor storage for data-center servers. From a report: The chip giant first set out this form factor a year ago, based on the Enterprise & Datacenter Storage Form Factor (EDSFF) standard for server makers to cut cooling costs and offer a more efficient format than SSDs in the classic 2.5 inch size. Intel describes the new ruler-shaped Intel SSD DC P4500, which is 12 inches by 1.5 inches, and a third of an inch thick, as the world's densest SSD. Server makers can jam up to one petabyte (PB) -- or a thousand terabytes (TB) -- of data into 1U server racks by lining up 32 of these 32TB Intel rulers together. So, instead of the decades-old 2.5-inch square SSD drives inherited from and designed for disk-based storage, Intel now has long and skinny sticks, thanks to flash. The new shape allows it to optimize SSD storage density, cooling, and power for data centers.
...a Beowulf cluster of these?
Every single image has so many things going on.
How many pci-e lanes per card? and will AMD cpus work better then intel due to having more lanes to work with?
Now with ceph I want to have 5-9 smaller ones per node + 10G (or more networking)
Well, the point of this is to extend gobs of storage off a single connector. Space wise, 2.5" drives will be more storage per unit volume, but will need more connectors.
These things are really inconvenient in terms of form factor, being over twice as long as even the now 'gigantic' 3.5" drives.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Intel processors seem the most dense ones around and Intel fanboys are the most dense ones around too.
which is 12 inches by 1.5 inches, and a third of an inch thick
Not a big cross section for something that long, but I'd take it.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
They're made for server blades. The form factor works perfectly there. If the tech gets adopted for civilian use, you will either see new motherboard architecture or parallel half-stick structures to better fit case designs.
Actually, server *blades* tend to be relatively shallow, they are the least likely to have the depth for this.
1U server is the smallest server form factor that *could* conceivably be adapted to cope (and has to forgo things like even half-length PCIe slots so the CPU and memory can be seated far enough out of the way for the drives to come in.
2U server with the 12" drives flying over the other components is the smallest one where the 12" depth could be accommodated without crazy compromises (you probably will be limited to 1U heatsink for the CPUs, but you would have the ability to have normal network adapters, though the bottom U of the front would probably be relegated to just being air intake.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
This could be a real changer for data center deployments. There is not reason why we have the 2.5" form factor anymore. There's no more spinning disks inside. So if storage is still in a rack, utilize the depth of the 1U system better. Blade centers or dedicated storage arrays. Also, why not have disks plugging in the front and back of the 1U system.
This might not catch on, but being first in line is a good place to be. Wow, Intel still has some engineers, who haven't been let go, who can imagine something new.
1U server is the smallest server form factor that *could* conceivably be adapted to cope.
Read about the spec at https://edsffspec.org.
It is specifically designed for 1U.
i'm sure there's a good comeback to this - but i'm too dense to think of it...
nothing to see here - move along
It is designed for 1U servers that would be designed for it. That's the rub. Yes, they made them 1U wide, and a depth that in theory can fit with processors and dimms. However there isn't leftovers for other things.
Front cabled systems with front drives also could work (albeit without being able to cram in 32 drives, but that's fine...), but front cabling isn't too popular...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
MTBF?
One good thing about it is the length gives significantly more surface area for cooling than a 2.5" form factor does. With more of the server chassis in contact with the SSD, it can mean better heat removal, which definitely will help with component life.
Hopefully there will be half-length form factors for workstations.
It is refreshing to see a product brag about being dense. All this Smartphone, SmartTV, Smart Home, etc., stuff is getting old.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
;p ...
nothing to see here - move along
One good thing about it is the length gives significantly more surface area for cooling than a 2.5" form factor does.
Could you explain that a bit? I'm not that familiar with SSD dimensions but I thought a typical 2.5" disk was about a third of an inch thick. To make it a ruler, all I have to do is cut it with a bandsaw into three strips and glue them all together. That shouldn't change the surface area so I don't see how it affects cooling.
you'd be trying to cool a completely busted and ruined SSD -- i mean go ahead, but i don't see the point.
I estimate I will need about 256 of these. How much are they at Best Buy?
and when I say reliable I mean half dead after few months, rest in the process of dying.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
To make it a ruler, all I have to do is cut it with a bandsaw into three strips and glue them all together. That shouldn't change the surface area so I don't see how it affects cooling.
.... not sure if clueless or trolling ...
If you're actually serious, go cut a block of wood into three pieces instead. Measure the total surface area before you cut, then measure the total surface area of the three pieces laid end to end. Then marvel at the magic of geometry.
No, I'm serious. As near as I can tell, the ruler and a normal SSD are about the same thickness (about 10 mm). Thus, all Intel was doing was changing the other two (longer) dimensions, which shouldn't change the surface area by much.
Since my previous post clearly wasn't clear, let me be more specific. What it seems is Intel is doing is taking a 70x100 rectangle and slicing it into two 35mm x 100 mm slices. Those get slices re-arranged end to end instead of side to side. Through the magic of geometry, that isn't adding much surface area. It's adding a little but not much.
However, that leaves a 35x200mm long ruler. The real ruler is more like 45x300mm so there definitely is more surface area. But the surface area per unit volume doesn't seem like it's changing. For cooling, that's what I thought matters. So why does this form factor cool better?
Does that make my question clearer?
<sarcasm>Are you telling me electronics isn't malleable like Play-Doh? Huh, maybe that's also why my motherboard stopped working when I folded to fit in a mini-case.</sarcasm>
Thank goodness firmware 1.2 will have the throttling needed to finally stop these bad boys from overheating.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
So, roughly 25 standard racks of these equals one exabyte. I wonder how much that costs, and what kind of power consumption. Also need some hefty network gear to go with it. Doing the same with spinning disk would be about 120 racks, so that's not hugely different, but the power consumption and cooling requirements would be massively different.
Yah it's a Beowulf cluster, except no.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I think the issue will likely be how to actually address such storage. If it is being used like conventional RAID then the effective storage is still 512TB (32TBx16x2.) If they are provisioned as 32TB drives and relying on their own over-provisioning, then they may not require RAID provisioning at all and yes 1024TB (32x32TB) may be possible.
UEFI GPT can deal with these sizes, but how do you JBOD these and still replace one that is out of spare blocks? Windows still only has 24 drive letters. Ideally you have a drive controller that simply presents it as one drive and wear-levels accross all drives rather than wearing out just the one drive where the swapfile is provisioned.
segment,
they compete in the "Moar Inches" one.
It's more about how the airflow through a server blade or storage array shelf can be optimized.
WTF is this in sensible units? Can we stop with this outdated crap yet?
So slashdot says: Capcha "imperial"
Slashdot, you are so inside my head! The pressure! It's blinding! Uuunaghasdgfkljf...
Which is why anyone buying these are also paying for a 1 year (or 2, or 3) service contract that covers drive replacements.
When we buy data center gear, we don't just go pay someone retail. We get a quote for the hardware + support, and then haggle a bit.
I remember my first hard drive something like 30 years ago. Talked my mom into buying it for my computer so I wouldnt have to constantly switch 3.5 floppies. Probably for my Keef The Thief game. Maybe Sorcerers Get all The Girls.
It was like 100 or 200 bucks. I immediately deleted some files that I didn't put on there so that I'd have more storage space. Oops, that was MS-DOS. An expensive trip to the computer repair shop and a threat from my mom led to me reading the manuals carefully and ultimately to my future career in computers.
After all the talk over the years about not being able to increase the storage capacity I think we are just about at that point that it doesn't matter about increasing capacity on physical hard drives. The replacements in 5 years will just be big enough and cheaper. Goodbye hard drives.
Sure, HP support asked sysadmins to manually upgrade firmware, on ~50 still surviving drives, $xxxK array with full support contract ...
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
You're thinking waaaaay to hard about this for someone who obviously doesn't know WTF about storage.
Enterprise storage already has things like this.. nobody uses SSD for enterprise solutions.
Check Hitachi FMD for example.. been out for a few years now, long enough where first gen is already being replaced. Admittedly the intel sounds smaller, but using a different form factor is nothing new.
Yes, clearly Intel designed an SSD that doesn't fit in the servers.
Good on you for catching that, now have a cookie.
Some people think 1U is server blades, although they're not.
Windows doesn't need drive letters. You may mount these as c:\foo\drive_0, c:\foo\drive_1 ... c:\foo\drive_31.
Oh, I see. Yes, it's honest confusion.
The ruler form factor is supposed to be 0.33 inches thick. That's 8.3mm.
A 2.5" drive varies in thickness. Laptop drives are typically 9.5mm, however drives are made in thicknesses up to 15mm. Either way the new form factor is definitely thinner.
All these comments, and none about the obviously phallic design? What more do they need to say, "This new 12-inch SSD will need to be inserted into its corresponding slot on the recipient case...."
You just expended several hundred words on what could have been entered into Google calculator in under 30 s (both area calculations).
If you were determined to expend all these words, you might have instead used them to pontificate about mean thermal conduction distances, which depends on how things are bonded internally, and whether the One True Diabolical Material (air) is present inside (as opposed to potting the drive with molten copper, yielding a superb embodiment of the simplified surface-area approximation).
Please enable: 1 m * 2 m * 3 m in m^2
And have it display:
Also:
Funny, you expended many dozens of precious electrons when you could have simply not responded.
One of these days the US, along with their equally progressive brethren (Liberia and Myanmar) might see the metric light.
Ahh, who am I kidding...