As I was perusing some HP server benchmarks recently, I was struck by how integral disk drives are to server performance – and not just IOPS. Disk drives are a quiet but essential part of what makes a server fast, energy efficient or just do whatever it was born to do.
Take for example HP’s DL370 G6 that has broken records in 2P TPC (Transaction Processing Performance Council) performance. 2.5″ form factor 15K rpm drives are under the covers playing a key role. These are the fastest disk drives on the planet – just what you need when breaking system speed records.
Then there’s the HP DL380 G6 and its SPECpower rating. The G6 is incredibly efficient, with 40X more performance per watt than the G4. And while the 2.5″ drive used in this test wasn’t specified, enterprise disk drive power consumption varies dramatically. All 2.5″ form factor drives are 70% more power efficient that their 3.5″ elders. And Seagate’s new Constellation 2.5″ 7200 rpm enterprise drive, is a SAS power miser, using 2.8 W when idle, and less than half that in standby mode.
The lesson of the day: server drives are not all created equal. Check under the hood to be sure a server has the class of drive meant for your application.
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