Facts over claims

A critical look at storage technologies and sustainability

In our previous blog, “An ecological look at the entire lifetime of your storage,” we saw how SSDs generate significant carbon emissions throughout their life cycle. These findings show that the production and use of SSDs involves considerable carbon emissions. However, this observation raises broader questions about the sustainability of storage technologies as a whole.

Facts or claims?

Often, calculations and claims of storage technologies are presented in favor of the respective manufacturers. Different applications used in different settings are compared. From a marketing perspective, this is legitimate, however, the resulting information is often not useful. It would make sense to compare current technologies for the exact same usage scenario in the exact same environment. Primary storage systems among themselves. Backup storage with different technologies. Archival storage systems from various sources. Simply claiming that this technology is the “greenest” by itself is just nonsense.

An objective comparison

As mentioned earlier, this involves looking not only at the operational carbon footprint, but also at broader factors such as production, disposal, system architecture and alternative uses. In line with this approach, Scality conducted an in-depth study of the energy efficiency of different storage solutions. As a leading storage solution provider, Scality understands the importance of objective and factual comparisons between storage technologies.

This research provides an overview of the true energy efficiency of technologies such as high-density HDDs and QLC flash SSDs, based on realistic workloads and environments. This research has shown that the perception of QLC flash SSDs as more energy efficient than HDDs is not always correct. The results show that for specific workload profiles, HDDs actually have an energy efficiency advantage over QLC flash SSDs. This illustrates the importance of detailed and factual comparisons that go beyond superficial marketing claims.

Thus, it is important to inquire with the manufacturer at all times about storage consumption, among other things. Especially in the context of sustainability, which is an important issue in today’s business operations.

With lasting greetings,

The Comex Team