How come there aren't more 10k RPM SATA drives?

[her209]

Why have ATA drives been stuck on 7200 RPM for so long? AFAIK, Western Digital is the only manufacturer that makes 10k ATA drives.

 

[Rubycon]

Capacity vs. performance. With SSD sizes increasing the performance sector that puts cost of second concern just buys solid state anyway.

 

[Nothinman]

Most likely because the people willing to pay those prices are also looking at SAS instead.

 

[RebateMonger]

Why have ATA drives been stuck on 7200 RPM for so long? AFAIK, Western Digital is the only manufacturer that makes 10k ATA drives.

Maybe for the same reason that typical car engine rpms haven't changed much in fifty years. Improvements to bearings, motors, and other mechanical items haven't come as fast as improvements in digital circuits. It's still pricey to build drives that spin that fast while still maintaining reliability and still keeping the noise and heat at reasonable levels.

 

[Ayah]

SLC SSD > 15k SAS.

 

[Gillbot]

Capacity vs. performance. With SSD sizes increasing the performance sector that puts cost of second concern just buys solid state anyway.

plus the increased failure rate vs. cost.

 

[Emulex]

sas is a bit more superior being an LVD physical (dual ported in most cases now) that is full duplex.

 

[pjkenned]

OP: Ever used 10/15k SAS? Thing is that with spindle disks, the performance is OK... until you start setting up large raid arrays. On the flip side 8+ 10-15k SAS drives are not something that you want in earshot (plus they need decent airflow).

For most people a 7200 rpm disk is fine. SSD boot + 7200rpm is better. Figure most people don't have more than 250GB in programs. So for files that are several MB to GB in size, a single SATA 7200 pm disk can saturate a GigE pipe these days. For 99% of the population, 10k rpm disks would be a waste. The great thing about 7200 rpm SATA is that you get TONS of storage cheaply. If you want speed/ redundancy, RAID is cheap.

 

[Emulex]

which single 7200rpm sata drive can saturate a gigabit link? i would like to get some of those.

 

[Ayah]

which single 7200rpm sata drive can saturate a gigabit link? i would like to get some of those.

A gigabit link will give you barely more than 100MB/s. A sequential read off a relatively modern 7200RPM drive will saturate the link easily.

 

[pjkenned]

A gigabit link will give you barely more than 100MB/s. A sequential read off a relatively modern 7200RPM drive will saturate the link easily.

Yea a defragmented 7200 rpm drive can sustain 100MB/s fairly easily on big sequential reads.

 

[wwswimming]

Maybe for the same reason that typical car engine rpms haven't changed much in fifty years. Improvements to bearings, motors, and other mechanical items haven't come as fast as improvements in digital circuits. It's still pricey to build drives that spin that fast while still maintaining reliability and still keeping the noise and heat at reasonable levels.

yeah, but ... this is capitalism.

the 10K RPM Raptor product line has been very profitable for Western Digital. maybe less so, with customers who would have bought 2 for RAID now buying an SSD instead.

but, it was odd. Western Dig. had this SATA product line that was very popular and very profitable, and no-one imitated it.

the manufacturers that did make or do make SCSI & SAS 10K & 15K RPM drives (Fujitsu, HP, Seagate) - maybe those lines are profitable and they're afraid they would be cannibalized if they came out with a SATA drive that was just as fast.

i guess the server drive manufacturers didn't want to split their engineering resources. Anandtech has got to have some Fujitsu or HP or Seagate employees who got to sit in on those meetings where those decisions were made.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Higher RPM combines well with smaller diameter platters (to keep mechanical stresses in check) and, to some extent, lower areal density (wider tracks) to make for incredible access times. The tradeoff is low capacity. This works at Enterprise level because capacity is meaningless if your disks can't keep up with the workload.

Desktop access patterns are localized, making random access less of a priority. A single user would have to work at it to overload a single 7200 RPM drive, so its performance will be technically sufficient. A single user can use more than 300GB, though (largest VelociRaptor), so capacity is more likely to determine suitability.

Thus high density, large-platter 7200rpm drives. Two 1TB Caviar Blacks can be had for the price of one 300GB velociraptor. 6.67x the capacity per dollar for only slightly less desktop performance. Competition in the 10k arena would improve things somewhat, but the move to 2.5in to get 10k cheaply cripples capacity in a way that the added performance can't overcome.

7200rpm seems to be the sweet spot between desktop performance, capacity, noise, and cost to manufacture.

but, it was odd. Western Dig. had this SATA product line that was very popular and very profitable, and no-one imitated it.

To enter, you're looking at splitting the very small enthusiast market. It's not even guaranteed to be in half, as a third or fourth manufacturer could see fit to enter. (Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and HP all have 10k drives.) And you won't see the profit margins that WD is seeing in an uncompetitive market since you'll be the entry of competition.
It's probably not worth the start-up costs.

 

[Yellowbeard]

One assumption that can easily be made is that making these drives in greater quantities would not be profitable. If there was money to be made, someone would be doing it.

 

[Ayah]

Also, I think like less than 0.1% of the world was interested in buying WD's Raptor line. Most of the world just stuck with whatever they got in the Dell/HP/otherbigboxnamebrand computer they bought.

The noise of the drive would also probably be more annoying than the performance would be helpful.

 

[zuffy]

I know the original and second generation Raptor was loud but no way the new VelociRaptor is loud. Actually, it's quieter and runs coolers than most 7200 drives.

 

[her209]

Also, I think like less than 0.1% of the world was interested in buying WD's Raptor line. Most of the world just stuck with whatever they got in the Dell/HP/otherbigboxnamebrand computer they bought.

I dunno about the other product lines, but I know you could choose to configure the Optiplex computers with the 10k drive. Sure costs more though.

 

[romit]

its more superior so....