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Hybrid Storage Architectures
MAID
Gaining momentum within the SATA movement is the concept of MAID (Massive Arrays of Idle Disks) storage. MAID is derivative disk architecture similar to the RAID concept except that in a MAID storage array, not all disks (currently SATA disks) are spinning all the time. With a MAID subsystem, disks remain dormant (powered off) until requested. Power-up time for SATA disks takes about 10 seconds, approximately the same as most automated tape library robotic mount times though no mount is required to power up the drive. MAID is aimed at enabling SATA disk to handle an additional level of storage requirements not being cost-effectively addressed on disk or automated tape storage. MAID subsystems can be viewed as a library of disks and their goal is to move disk pricing per gigabyte and TCO closer to that of automated tape subsystems. MAID also delivers significant energy savings over standard disk arrays that are powered on all the time.
Hybrid disks
Hybrid disks are an innovative area of development and can accelerate tape automation by integrating small form factor disk drives directly into a standard tape cartridge. This new area is also called "disk in a cartridge." The cartridges are the same size and shape as an industry standard tape cartridge and can fit directly into an existing tape library slot. Hybrid disks allow you to add disk-drive-level performance capabilities to your existing tape library or autoloader with no hardware or software modifications. In other words, some cartridges perform like a disk. The new hybrid disks enable random access capability and enhanced performance within a tape environment though, like a tape cartridge, they require a robotic mount to make the disk drive ready for access.
Other disk innovations include new developments attempting to use flash memory as a solid state disk and adding flash memory to a disk drive for added cache-like performance. Expect he use of flash memory to increase.
Source: Horison Information Strategies: Storage Navigator
© 2005 Horison
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