Storage Technology Explained: Flash vs HDD
ComputerWeekly, Wednesday, January 10th, 2024
In this guide, we examine the differences between flash storage and HDD, the rise of NVMe and much denser formats such as QLC, and whether or not flash will vanquish HDD in the all-flash datacentre
The past 12 months saw flash storage nudge into areas from which it had hitherto been absent. In particular, this was because of the availability of denser - and therefore cheaper per-gigabyte (GB) - quad-level cell (QLC) flash storage into array markets and use cases that were once considered nearline.
Alongside this, we saw the price-per-GB of flash drop towards the level of spinning disk hard disk drives (HDDs). Meanwhile, the keenest of flash storage advocates predicted the demise of the hard drive and the imminent victory of the all-flash datacentre.