If you are like me, I like to have the latest and greatest technology. From iPads to smart phones, I just love this stuff. If I am honest with myself, I can truly say I really don’t NEED all this stuff. It is just nice having…

Like many others, (mostly guys) we are similar in this way. We look at data storage similarly. We like to own the fastest drives, the smartest arrays and best-in-class technologies. In today’s tough economy, companies are looking for their IT department to do more with the technology. Leverage existing equipment and investments and to buy only if it gives them a competitive advantage. Many companies are holding off from making purchases and when they do make the investment, it is typical for them to stretch their 3 years maintenance contracts to 5 years.

Let’s face it, data is exploding and to store it is just darn expensive! The upfront costs can be very high. The golden question to answer is do I really need the latest and greatest? In a world if money was not a factor, I would have SSDs in all my devices and in my SAN, but unfortunately cost is a factor. SSDs are used mainly for very specific purposes like extending cache in a SAN or used for latency sensitive applications such as databases and virtual desktop systems. The other 95% of applications are sufficient using rotating media.

SAS, FC, SATA, PATA, SCSI hard drives
With the evolution of disk drives, it can be confusing. Especially if you are new to the industry. We hear a lot about SAS drives these days, but what does it mean? What is the difference between SAS, FC, SATA and SCSI hard drives? Mechanically, not a lot, with the exception of bearings and electronics that affect the MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure), it is mostly the drive interface.

Below are the interface types that are most common on today’s hard drives.

SAS – Serial Attached SCSI: The replacement for SATA and FC. Based on the SCSi command set, SAS is capable of 4x6Gb or 4x3Gb channels of I/O simultaneously.
FC – Fibre Channel: Commonly used in SAN systems as high-end, enterprise class hard drives.
SATA – Serial Advanced Technology Attachment: A commonly used interface in consumer grade hard drives. This was a replacement for ATA (AT Attachment, aka EIDE) and PATA (Parallel AT Attachment) drives.
SCSI – Small Computer Systems Interface: is a set of standards for peripheral connection to computer systems. This is the most common type among all business-class hard drives.

The bottom line is, there are alternatives. SATA and SCSI when architected correctly can support a major part of your data. So before you go out and make a considerable investment, ask the question, “Do I need the latest and greatest?”