Data center SSDs are solid-state drives developed to support the intensive needs of large data centers, which store large volumes of client data and make it accessible for business applications. While they have interfaces, protocols, and speeds similar to consumer drives, most data center SSDs are more heavy-duty with higher overall capacities. This guide to […]
Data center SSDs are solid-state drives developed to support the intensive needs of large data centers, which store large volumes of client data and make it accessible for business applications. While they have interfaces, protocols, and speeds similar to consumer drives, most data center SSDs are more heavy-duty with higher overall capacities. This guide to data center drives analyzes five of the best SSDs for businesses and offers a brief buying guide to help choose the right ones.
SSDs specifically designed for data center use cases support data-intensive workloads in organizations’ storage infrastructures. The following table provides a brief overview of our top drives and their prices and features.
| Pricing | Top read speeds | Additional features | |
| Micron 5200 ECO |
|
540 MB/s |
|
| Micron 9300 |
|
3500 MB/s |
|
| Samsung 970 EVO Plus |
|
3,500 MB/s |
|
| Micron 5210 ION |
|
540 MB/s |
|
| Seagate Nytro 3350 |
|
2200 MB/s |
|
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The Micron 5200 series includes the ECO as its highest capacity drive, at up to 7.68 TB. The 5200 ECO is a SATA drive and offers up to 540/520 MB/s maximum read and write speeds. The 5200 drives are hot-pluggable, which means they can be removed while the storage system is still running, and they feature AES 256-bit encryption to protect data on the drives. The 5200 ECO is a bit more expensive than other comparable drives, but its toolbox of features makes it a strong choice for business workloads.
The Micron 9300 series includes both the 9300 Max and the 9300 Pro. The Max has up to 12.8 TB, and the Pro has up to 15.36 TB of capacity, making it a good choice for high-volume storage needs. Key features include power loss protection and a five-year warranty.
Note that locating a distributor for all Micron 9300 drive options is challenging, so it may take some time for your storage team to find your preferred drives.
Note that the following prices are from resellers like Amazon and Newegg, which Micron does not list as official distributors. Prices will vary depending on the reseller.
Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus is an NVMe staple. Samsung consistently produces some of the top drives in the world, and the EVO Plus is no exception. Core features include drive health check and benchmarking capabilities and the option to encrypt the drive, all offered through Samsung Magician, Samsung’s proprietary SSD management tool.
Note that this drive’s M.2 form factor means it was initially designed for consumer use—while it can’t compete on capacity, it offers comparable features and higher speeds than some of the other drives on our shortlist.
All prices listed are provided by Samsung:
The Micron 5210 ION is a quad-level cell (QLC) SSD, which holds four bits in a cell. This architecture improves overall drive capacity. Read speeds top out at 540 MB/s for this SATA drive. The ION’s features include power loss protection and AES 256-bit encryption.
Keep in mind that while QLC technology improves capacity usage on SSDs, it also isn’t as durable. QLC drives might not last as long as single-level (SLC) or multi-level cell (MLC) SSDs.
The Seagate Nytro 3350 is a serial attached SCSI (SAS) SSD for data-intensive workloads. Features include power loss protection and SeaChest, a command line interface (CLI) for drive health monitoring. Note that the 3350 is available from resellers; make sure the reseller honors the five-year warranty when purchasing from sources external to Seagate.
While enterprise drives are similar to consumer drives, they often have greater capacities and additional features like power loss protection or encryption.
Solid state drives designed specifically for data centers often have higher capacities and can handle more read and write cycles than consumer SSDs. This makes them more suitable to support data-intensive applications, like large databases, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and big data analytics.
Power loss protection technology protects data in the event of a power failure. If a data center loses electricity or is damaged by a natural disaster, power loss protection helps shield information stored on the data center’s drives.
Data center SSDs need to protect the data stored on them. Many drives offer AES 256-bit encryption, one of the most secure cryptographic technologies. Encrypting data scrambles it so that users can’t view data at rest on the SSD unless they have a decryption key.
When selecting SSDs for an enterprise data center, keep budget, compatibility, and vendor relationships in mind.
Select SSDs compatible with your organization’s budget, but don’t completely throw quality out the window. Choose drives that offer the features and functionality you need while selecting something close to your price range. Additionally, take bulk pricing into consideration as well—some expensive drives may be cheaper overall, depending on how the reseller or vendor prices them.
Choose drives that your existing hardware supports. Make sure the protocols and interfaces line up—if you choose a SAS drive, are your servers compatible with SAS? Check this for NVMe drives in particular.
Additionally, make sure the drives you choose work well with the applications they need to support. This difference may be more subtle, but if a drive doesn’t have the read and write speeds to power your team’s high-powered CRM, it won’t last you long.
Some SSDs on this list must be purchased through an approved partner or reseller. Make sure you examine your options carefully and choose a reseller you trust. If they promise a certain warranty or feature, check to make sure it’s still valid when the drive is resold.
People frequently ask the following questions about SSDs and data center drives.
Choosing a hard drive or solid state drive for your data center depends on multiple factors. What kind of workload are you running? If it’s mission-critical, SSDs will provide more speed. But for less time-sensitive operations, with lower data access requirements, hard drives will be more cost-effective.
Unlike hard drives, which have moving parts that physically degrade, SSDs degrade by going through multiple write cycles until used cells die. Different SSDs have different endurance, and that endurance is indicated by the number of terabytes written (TBW).
Storage teams should absolutely check their drives’ health, and that goes for data center SSDs too. Some vendors offer health check tools, like Samsung Magician, while other software like benchmarking and performance can be used on multiple drives. Just ensure that the software is compatible with the drives you already have before purchasing.
To evaluate the best data center SSDs, we compiled data on storage capacity, speed, feature availability, and pricing and then analyzed the products using a weighted scoring rubric. Our scoring system ranks products from 0 to 5, and the best solutions are chosen from that short list. Enterprise Storage Forum does not rank recommended solutions based on any vendor partnerships, only on features and capabilities. We may also analyze comprehensive user reviews and the vendors’ own data on their products to determine whether we think that product is a good fit for our audience.
SSDs for data centers are designed to handle data-intensive workloads and heavy applications. Choosing the right drives to support your business’s important workloads requires your team to know the exact requirements for your servers and arrays, as well as the right fit for your budget. High-quality data center SSDs will help support your organization’s storage infrastructure for years to come.
Read about the best SATA SSDs next.
Jenna Phipps is a staff writer for Enterprise Storage Forum and eSecurity Planet, where she covers data storage, cybersecurity and the top software and hardware solutions in the storage industry. She’s also written about containerization and data management. Previously, she wrote for Webopedia. Jenna has a bachelor's degree in writing and lives in middle Tennessee.
Enterprise Storage Forum offers practical information on data storage and protection from several different perspectives: hardware, software, on-premises services and cloud services. It also includes storage security and deep looks into various storage technologies, including object storage and modern parallel file systems. ESF is an ideal website for enterprise storage admins, CTOs and storage architects to reference in order to stay informed about the latest products, services and trends in the storage industry.
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