Data Storage: The Future Of Flash And Hard Disk Drives

Flash drives that respond lightning fast and hard disk drives with increasing capacity usher in the future of storage devices. With no conceivable competition for flash or hard disk drives, integrating both devices into your storage strategy yields the most benefits to everyone interested in storage.

Although DNA may provide the solution to data storage for millions of years, the future of flash and hard disk drives promises much better performance, reduced costs, and the ability to store more data on devices. Storage devices are changing at an exceptionally fast pace, governed by user’s needs and use. With the same two teams dictating the market, don’t expect evolutionary changes within the industry, but look for better quality devices.

The Future of Flash Drives 

Businesses are continuously researching measures to store data safely and effectively. For many years, flash drives have been part of the solution. Storing data on flash drives offer many businesses benefits including the ability to access data from anywhere, enhanced storage capacity, and fast performance. Both Intel and Samsung explain that the industry can expect to see a shift from on-transistor-per-cell builds for flash memory to a stacked, three-dimensional arrays within each chip. The new technology allows Intel to double the amount of storage per each transistor, enhancing flash memory’s overall capacity, making flash memory a more worthy competitor with its counterpart hard disk drives.

The Future of Hard Disk Drives 

One of the leaders in the industry, Seagate, has enhanced their storage capacity, up to 8TB based on Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR). Their increased capacity emphasizes the advantage hard disk drives have over flash drives: the ability to deliver high capacity and high-performance devices at a reduced cost. SMR removes the fallow area separating tracks and allows them to overlap, which increases capacity by 25%. Additionally, Seagate promises Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) by 2017. HAMR uses heat by laser strapped heads to produce high-quality magnetized sections with less interference.

The Future of Data Storage for Businesses 

More and more businesses are interested in storing data for years. With a higher demand for storage, many businesses are using multi-pronged approaches to data storage, including flash, hard disks and cloud storage. Many businesses will forego their current dependency on NAS/SAN bulk storage systems and in-server storage because all will want to see higher performance when accessing data.

Big Moves in Storage Devices? 

Although there are many players in the background promising to provide users with a better experience when it comes to their storage options, not one company has made a significant dent in the market. From ferroelectric RAM to polymer memory to memristor storage, the intense competition and the low margins make entry into the market both difficult and unattractive, especially for technology that is revolutionary.

Although you can expect to see more of the same when it comes to storage devices, both flash memory and hard disk drives have evolved in the ability to process and store data. With advances in technology, both show promise to help with high volumes of data and data velocity while remaining inexpensive.

Katrina specializes in server products with Rack Solutions leading the IT industry for custom racking design.