KB 239036 - Storge Technologies

KB 239036 - Storge Technologies

Storage Technologies

A quick reference for common storage technologies, interfaces, and form factors used in desktops, workstations, and enterprise servers.
  1. HDD & SSD

    The table below gives a comparative knowledge on HDD as well as SSD

Feature

HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

SSD (Solid State Drive)

Technology

Spinning magnetic platters

Non‑volatile flash memory

Typical Speed

30–150 MB/s

Up to ~14,900 MB/s read / 14,000 MB/s write (high‑end NVMe)

Performance

Slower

Faster boot and data transfer

Durability

Lower due to moving parts

Higher durability (no moving parts)

Noise

Mechanical noise present

Silent operation

Power Consumption

Higher

Lower

Common Use

Backups, archives, large media storage

Operating systems, applications, gaming

  1. Storage Interfaces

    The different types of storage interfaces are listed below with a comparative knowledge.

Type

Interface

Form Factor

Speed

Common Usage

Relative Cost

NVMe

PCIe

M.2, U.2, U.3, AIC

3.5 to 14GB/s

Gaming PCs, Workstations, HPC

50 - 4000 USD

SATA

SATA

2.5", M.2

upto 550MB/s

Consumer laptops and desktops

20 - 150 USD

SAS

SAS

2.5", 3.5"

1.2GB/s to 2.4GB/s

Enterprise servers and storage arrays

200 - 1500 USD

  1. The images of SATA, SAS, & PCIe Interfaces are shared here for understanding.

  2.  SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)

               
     
              

  1.  SAS (Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface))

             
      
            

  1. PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)

             

  1. NVMe Form Factor types:

NVMe Type

Interface

Form Factor

Speed

Used In

Cost

M.2 NVMe

PCIe (Gen3/Gen4/Gen5)

Small module (stick form)

Gen3 upto 3.5GB/s
Gen4 upto 7GB/s
Gen5 upto 14GB/s

Laptops, desktops

50 - 200 USD

U.2 NVMe

PCIe (NVMe)

2.5‑inch enterprise SSD

3.5GB/s to 7GB/s

Enterprise servers

300 - 900 USD

U.3 NVMe

NVMe / SATA / SAS compatible

Enterprise drive

7GB/s to 14GB/s

Data centers

500 - 2000 USD

PCIe (AIC) NVMe

PCIe slot

Add‑In expansion card

7GB/s to 15GB/s

Workstations, HPC servers

800 - 4000 USD

  1. The images of different form factors of NVMe SSDs are shared below for understanding.
  1. M.2 NVMe SSD (Most Common)
                    

  1. U.2 NVMe SSD (Enterprise Servers)
                          

  1. U.3 NVMe SSD (Enterprise Drive)

                          

  1. PCIe NVMe (AIC – Add-In Card)