Seagate Q&A
Over at Sharky Extreme you can find a Q&A with Joni Clark, PC/Mobile Product Marketing Manager at Seagate. Topics include the merger with Maxtor, plans for 10K/15K RPM enterprise SATA drives, the future of notebook drives, solid state drives and perpendicular technology.
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the archvile
replySeagate's design model is based on helping to deliver what our customers need. If Seagate's OEM customers are interested in a 15K Savvio, it will be built. However, we shouldn't discount the benefits and advantages of what today's 10K Savvio has over the current 15K-rpm Cheetah - and that is quite a remarkable figure.
Yeah, it is quite a remarkable figure:
Savvio SAS 10K RPM 73.4 GB (ST973401SS): $640 at CDW
Cheetah 15K.4 SCA80 U320 15K RPM 73.4 GB (ST373454LC): $451 at CDW
Cheetah 10K.7 SCA80 U320 10K RPM 73 GB (ST373207LC): $210 at CDW
When IT gets some budget space to get a server, there's a very good chance that they're not going to get the most expensive components. Why go out on a limb and get that newfangled SAS drive when the good ol' 10K SCA80 73 GB is three times cheaper?
If we think of the value and performance gains of Savvio 10K.1 in relation to today's Cheetah 15K.4, at a system level using a standard 3U-sized rack, the Savvio-equipped system collectively delivers far greater I/O's in the same rack space. More drives in the same space=greater I/O transaction density performance.
Anybody seen these high-density racks? So far, all I've seen are Sun's x4100 (a 1U server with 4 SAS drives, but only available with 4 SAS drives in one specific configuration without the DVD-ROM drive), HP's DL360 G4 SAS (1U server with 4 SAS drives) and HP's DL380 G4 SAS (2U server with 8 SAS drives). IBM's server page is a complete mess and is nearly impossible to navigate or search. No SAS storage shelves that I've seen. No shelves holding 25 SAS drives, left to right (at least, that's what I imagine the density would be with ventilation space, considering that 1-inch high 3.5" drives are usually seen in shelves of 14 in a 19" rack).
The line "More drives in the same space=greater I/O transaction density performance" also gets me chuckling. More drives = lesser collective MTBF. Hard disks fail. It's just a question of when. I pity the fool who sets up a 25-disk RAID5 (if it's even possible!). I'd even be wary of a 25-disk RAID10; IMO that's really rolling the dice.
Savvio also offers an advantage with its small size because it draws less power and offers better cooling/airflow - therefore our OEM customers can build Savvio-equipped systems using the very latest processors that draw more current and require more cooling.
Unfortunately, this is all going to be lost on the 3X price premium over 3.5" 10K SCA drives. Maybe SAS is the future standard for server hard drives, but it's a bit too expensive to be the current standard.-
also, I looked up the ST973401SS price on computergiants.com, and they charge $575. I know that CDW doesn't have the best prices on hard drives, but it's where a lot of PHB's go.
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aren't 2.5" SATA drives 2-3x more expensive for the same capacity as 3.5" drives too? and it's the only option for those that need it, which means seagate can sadly charge whatever they like (much like the situation with WD's $300+ raptor drives).
i'd love to see these 10k savio's in laptops btw.
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