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Table of Contents

Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Description 4 I. Technology Used 4 A. Seagate Barracuda Pro 14 TB HDD 4 B. Samsung 970 Pro 1 TB SSD 5 II. Capacity 6 III. Speed of Access 6 IV. Power Consumption 7 V. Durability 7 VI. Cost Per Unit 8 Future of Mass Storage Devices 9 Conclusion 10 References 11

Introduction

In today’s mass storage device market, there are two main competing technologies: hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs). Seagate’s Barracuda Pro 14 TB 3.5” hard disk drive and Samsung’s 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME solid state drive represent the top of the line in each of their respective technologies [1][3]. This report will compare these two devices on storage technology used, capacity, speed, power consumption, durability, and cost per unit. Afterwards, the future of mass storage devices will be discussed.

Most of the technical information of the two devices were taken from Seagate’s and Samsung’s websites [1][2][3][4]. Information about basic HDD and SSD technologies were found at Ars Technica, Techbytes, and BetterTechTips [5][6][7]. Explanations of more advanced HDD and SSD technologies were taken from Silverton Consulting, AnandTech, and Samsung [8][9][10]. Information on SATA and NVMe interfaces was found on EnterpriseForum [11]. Storage device speed information was taken from Enterprise Storage, and specific benchmark data on the Seagate Barracuda Pro was taken from AnandTech [12][13]. Information on HDD and SSD benchmarking methods was found on TheSSDReview and UserBenchmark[14][15]. Pricing data on the Seagate Barracuda Pro 14 TB and the Samsung Pro 970 were taken from PcPartPicker [16][17]. The image of the hard drive used in Figure 1 was taken from NoWare [18]. Information about future improvements to HDDs and SSDs were found on StorageReview, BlocksAndFiles, and AnandTech [19][20][21]. Insight into future sales trends of both devices was taken from VentureBeat [22].

Figure 1. Hard disk drive internals [16]

The Seagate Barracuda Pro utilizes hard disk drive technology, which is displayed in Figure 1. Hard disk drives are mechanical devices consisting of a number of magnetic covered platters and read/write heads. The platters are spun by a motor and the read/write heads adjust their position to store or read from specific locations on the platters [7]. To write data, the read/write heads apply a shock to the magnetic coating in precise locations. This action changes the magnetic orientation of the area, and the lack of or presence of magnetism is how the drive distinguishes between 0s and 1s [5].

Seagate have implemented some special technologies that make its Barracuda Pro stand out from other hard drives. This drive utilizes two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) technology for its read/write heads, which makes use of an array of read/write heads to read from adjacent data tracks on the platters to reduce noise [8]. The enclosure of the hard drive is also filled with helium instead of air in order to reduce air resistance and provide better cooling [9].

Figure 2. Layout of SSD with multiple NAND flash chips [7]

The Samsung Pro 970 is a different implementation of mass storage technology known as the solid state drive. Solid state drives have no moving parts, and instead utilize flash storage in the form of integrated circuits, as seen in Figure 2, to read and store data. For the Samsung Pro 970, this flash memory comes in the form of NAND flash. NAND flash memory is made up of arrays of floating-gate transistor cells that act as non-volatile storage [6].

There are a few improvements to standard SSD technology that are included by the Samsung 970 Pro. This device utilizes multi-level cell technology, which allows for there to be two bits of information within each NAND cell, as opposed to only one [6]. Samsung also created a special kind of NAND technology called vertical-NAND (V-NAND) [10]. This kind of NAND stacks layers of floating-gate transistor cells on top of each other to allow for a higher density of cells in a smaller area. This allows for a smaller form factor, faster speeds, and higher capacities [10].

For storage capacity, the Barracuda Pro can hold 14 terabytes of data, with other similar models capable of storing 2TB, 4TB, 6 TB, 8 TB, 10 TB, and 12 TB [1]. The Samsung 970 Pro holds 1 TB, with another model that can store 512 MB [3]. The Seagate Barracuda Pro is a clear winner in terms of capacity, as its smallest capacity model has twice the storage space of the highest capacity model of the Samsung Pro 970. Hard disk drives will generally outperform solid state drives in terms of storage space [7].

The Seagate Barracuda Pro has a spindle speed of 7200 RPM and a maximum sustained transfer rate of 250 MB/s [2]. A common benchmark for storage device speed is to measure the time it takes to read or write 4 kB of data in random locations measured as input/output operations per seconds (IOPS) [13]. This is done at varying queue depths, which are the number of I/O commands that can be queued to the device [14]. The Seagate Barracuda Pro was found to have 69 IOPS for 4k random reads and 222 IOPS for 4k random writes at a queue depth of 1[9]. Additionally, this device is connected to the computer through a SATA 3.0 interface which means that it can support burst speeds up to 600 MB/s [1].

With sequential read speeds of up to 3500 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 2700 MB/s, the Samsung 970 Pro is incredibly fast [3]. Benchmarks show 15,000 IOPS for 4k random reads and 55,000 IOPS for 4k random writes at a queue depth of 1, with 500,000 IOPS for 4k random reads and writes at a queue depth of 32 [4]. The speed of this drive is supported by its NVMe interface and four PCIe 3.0 lanes, which offer a much greater maximum bandwidth than traditional SATA interfaces [3][11].

The Samsung 970 Pro is capable of much faster access speeds than the Seagate Barracuda Pro. This large difference in speeds comes from the technology used to make up each drive. As a hard disk drive, the read/write heads on the Seagate Barracuda Pro must physically move and seek the section of the platter it needs to access which takes time. The Samsung 970 Pro, on the other hand, does not require any seek time. Any part of the flash storage can be accessed within the same amount of time, which gives the device a strong edge against the Seagate Barracuda Pro [6].

The average operating power consumption of the Seagate Barracuda Pro is 6.9 W, with an idle average of 4.9 W and a sleep mode rate of 0.8 W. It also requires 2 amps of power for startup [1]. The Samsung Pro 970 averages at 5.7 W when operating and typically maxes out at 8.5 W. Its idle power consumption is 30 mW with a 5 mW rate during sleep mode [3].

Once again, the Samsung 970 Pro outperforms the Seagate Barracuda Pro, this time with a lower overall power consumption. While its average operating power consumption is only slightly lower than the Seagate Barracuda Pro, the idle and sleep mode power rates are significantly lower.

The Seagate Barracuda Pro can be operated in temperatures ranging from 0 to 60 degrees Celsius and stored in temperatures between -40 and 70 Celsius when not powered. This drive can also handle an operational shock of up to 70 Gs while reading and 40 Gs while writing but can handle up to 250 Gs when not operating [2]. A standard measure of drive reliability is the mean time between failures (MTBF). The Seagate Barracuda Pro has a MTBF of 1 million hours when at a workload rate of 300 TB and 8760 hours per year [1].

On the other hand, the Samsung 970 Pro can operate between 0 and 70 degrees Celsius and be stored between -45 and 80 degrees Celsius [4]. The drive can also withstand a non-operating shock of 1500 Gs [4]. The MTBF for the Samsung 970 Pro is 1.5 million hours [3].

The Samsung 970 Pro has a clear edge when it comes to durability, boasting a wider temperature range for both operation and storage, a longer MTBF, and a significantly higher tolerance to shock. This increase in shock tolerance is because unlike HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts and are inherently more durable because of that [7].

Currently, the Seagate’s Barracuda Pro 14 TB HDD can be purchased for around $549.99, or about $0.039 per gigabyte of storage [15]. Samsung’s 970 Pro 1 TB costs $349.99, which comes out to about $0.350 per gigabyte [16]. In this case, the Barracuda Pro can be seen to have a significantly lower cost per gigabyte despite its higher cost per unit.

Both HDD and SSD manufactures are continuing to innovate and improve on their respective technologies. Hard disk producers are attempting to increase the areal density of their drives through recording technologies like shingled magnetic recording (SMR), which layers hard drive platter tracks on top of each other [18]. A combination of SMR and new heat-assisted or microwave-assisted recording methods lead to projections of 60 TB hard drives being introduced by 2026 [19].

Solid state drives also continue to evolve, with manufacturers focusing on improvements to NAND flash memory. Many companies are attempting to increase the number of bits per memory cell, with 5 bits per cell being possible with the latest penta-level cell technology. These improvements would increase capacity and lower costs [20].

Overall, HDDs and SSDs both appear to have their places in the future. SSDs are slowly becoming the preferred devices for consumers due to their speeds and performance. While HDDs may not be preferred for performance reasons, their high capacities make them invaluable to datacenters that need to keep up with a constantly expanding world of data [21].

When compared, the Samsung Evo Pro 1TB SSD beats the Seagate Barracuda Pro 14 TB HDD in most categories. While the Seagate Barracuda Pro has a much lower cost per gigabyte and is capable of storing 14 times more data than the Samsung Pro 970, the SSD features significantly faster access speeds, lower power consumption, and much more durability. Its weaknesses, a higher price point and less overall capacity, are far outweighed by its performance, making it great for use in general purpose applications. The Seagate Barracuda Pro’s strengths of higher capacity and lower price would make it a good fit for data backup or for specific applications that require a large capacity.