Hard Disk Unexpectedly Not Dead
20 hours ago
- #AI
- #technology
- #storage
- AI-driven demand is causing shortages and price hikes in HDD and SSD markets.
- Western Digital reports unprecedented demand for hard drives, leading to price increases.
- AI farms require extensive data storage for inference, training, and regulatory compliance, driving demand for nearline hard drives.
- HDDs remain dominant in data centers, with 81% of installed capacity, due to lower cost per bit compared to SSDs.
- A study by Microsoft and Carnegie-Mellon found SSDs have higher operational and embodied emissions than HDDs.
- NAND flash density increases rapidly, but disk and tape continue steady growth in areal density.
- Tape storage remains relevant, with shipments increasing by 15.4% in 2024.
- DNA storage is still far from being economically viable, with high costs and slow read/write speeds.
- Research into DNA storage continues, but significant technological and financial hurdles remain.
- Storage industry timelines are long, with technologies like disk and tape remaining dominant for decades.