Overview - IBM 64 GB and 512 GB 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch Solid State Drives

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The 64 GB and 512 GB solid-state drives (SSDs) provide affordable, reliable, and performance-driven solid-state storage solutions for read-intensive applications. These drives present an opportunity for you to simplify your local storage infrastructure to help maintain overall maintenance and cooling cost, while considering remote storage solutions for end-to-end data availability.

Benefits include:

• 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch form factors that fit into conventional disk-drive bays
• 64 GB and 512 GB capacities to accommodate loading applications along with operating system booting
• Cost Effective MLC NAND technology with high read performance
• Energy saving with as little as 2.5-to 3.5 W power consumption per drive
• Enterprise data protection to ensure NAND integrity
• Rigorous testing through the ServerProven program, which instills confidence that your storage subsystem is compatible and will function reliably
• One-year limited warranty, or system warranty

The new IBM 64 GB and 512 GB solid state drives employ cost effective MLC NAND technology to bring an affordable, but performance-driven solution for read-intensive applications. The new SSD drives will be available in both 1.8-inch options, as well as 2.5-inch Simple-Swap and Hot-Swap options.

These SSDs use a single-chip controller with a SATA interface on the system side and n-channels of Micron NAND Flash internally. Packaged in an hard drive replacement enclosure, these SSDs integrate easily in existing storage infrastructures. They are targeted at applications that require high I/O performance in random read operations.

Unlike client drives, these 2.5-inch Hot-Swap and Simple Swap (SS) SSDs for IBM System x are equipped with a robust suite of enterprise features, including SMART attributes, hot-plug support, and uCode. They also leverage enterprise data path protection to verify data to and from NAND at every possible location and protect the integrity of the data. The NAND flash in these SSDs is screened and then tested specifically for enterprise customer use. Overall, these SSDs provide outstanding IOPs-per-watt and cost-per-IOP for enterprise solutions and are an excellent choice for read-intensive applications like web serving, content delivery, and streaming video.

Providing that additional peace of mind, your 64 GB and 512 GB MLC SSDs are covered under IBM warranty. These drives carry a one-year limited warranty (1) or, when installed in a System x Server, assume your system's base warranty.

Solid-state memory cells have an intrinsic, finite number of program or erase cycles that each cell can incur. As a result, solid state storage has a maximum amount of program/erase cycles to which it can be subjected. IBM's warranty for the solid state storage is limited to devices that have not reached the maximum guaranteed number of program or erase cycles, as documented in the Official Published Specifications for the product. Solid-state storage that reaches this limit may fail to operate according to its specifications.

Features and functions:

• 64 GB and 512 GB MLC SATA SSDs for IBM System x
  
• 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch industry-standard form factors
• Industry-leading 25 nm MLC
• Cost-effective MLC NAND technology with high read performance
• MLC SATA drives specifically designed to fulfill client needs in the enterprise value space
• Enterprise data path protection
• Energy saving with as little as 2.5- to 3.5 Wpower consumption per drive
• Absence of moving parts, which reduces potential failure points in the server

IBM System x or BladeCenter system with SATA capability

• One year limited warranty

IBM 64 GB and 512 GB SATA 2.5-inch MLC Hot-Swap and Simple-Swap SSDs

One (1) Option Unit Box

Contents:

• SSD
• Important Notices and IBM Warranty Publication
• SSD Information Flyer

The 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB SATA/SAS hard drive are shipped as a single package. Other items are in zipped bags.

Packaging dimensions/weight

• Single box (HxWxD): 63 mm (2.48 in) 133 mm (5.24 in) 174 mm (6.85 in)
• Package Weight: 440 gms (0.97 lb)

IBM 64 GB and 512 GB SATA 2.5-inch MLC Hot-Swap and SS SSDs

• Approximate height: 7.0 mm (0.27inch)
• Approximate width: 69.9 mm (2.75inch)
• Approximate depth: 100.5 mm (3.96inch)
• Approximate weight: 73 gm (0.16 lb)

• Approximate height: 5.0 mm (0.197inch)
• Approximate width: 54.0 mm (2.13inch)
• Approximate depth: 78.5 mm (3.09inch)
• Approximate weight: 45 gm (0.10 lb)

IBM 512 GB SATA 2.5-inch MLC SS Enterprise Value SSDs

• Approximate height: 7.0 mm (0.3 inch)
• Approximate width: 70.0 mm (2.8 inch)
• Approximate depth: 100.0 mm (4.0inch)
• Approximate weight: 73 gm (0.2 lb)

Shipping dimensions

IBM 64 GB and 512 GB SATA 2.5-inch MLC Hot-Swap and SS SSDs

• Approximate Height: 63.0 mm (2.48inch)
• Approximate Width: 174.0 mm (6.85inch)
• Approximate Depth: 133.0 mm (5.24inch)
• Approximate Weight: 440 gm (0.97 lb)

IBM 64 GB and 512 GB SATA 1.8-inch MLC Enterprise Value SSDs

• Approximate Height: 32.0 mm (1.26inch)
• Approximate Width: 226.0 mm (8.90inch)
• Approximate Depth: 150.0 mm (5.90inch)
• Approximate Weight: 399 gm (0.88 lb)

IBM 512 GB SATA 2.5-inch MLC SS Enterprise Value SSDs

• Approximate Height: 32.0 mm (1.26inch)
• Approximate Width: 226.0 mm (8.90inch)
• Approximate Depth: 150.0 mm (5.90inch)
• Approximate Weight: 400 gm (0.9 lb)

Operating environment:

• Temperature: 0 to 70 degrees C (32 to 158 F)
• Relative humidity: 8% to 85% (noncondensing)
• Maximum altitude: 3,050 m (10,000 ft)

Agency approvals

• UL
• CSA
• TUV
• FCC
• EMC
• VCCI
• CE Mark
• C-Tick Mark
• IEC
• Taiwan (BSMI Certification)
• Korea EMI

These SDDs must beinchstalled in selected System x or BladeCenter servers.

The new IBM SATA SSDs work with most operating systems.

For latest compatibility information, visit

• http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/

• Note: Some configurations may not be compatible.
  
  

Solid-state memory cells have an intrinsic, finite number of write cycles that each cell can incur. As a result each solid-state device has a maximum amount of write cycles it can be subjected to, which is documented as TBW (Total Bytes Written). IBM is not responsible for replacement of hardware that has reached the maximum guaranteed number of write cycles. This limit may be revealed as the SSD drive failing to respond to system generated commands or becoming incapable of being written to.

Enterprise Value SSDs and Enterprise SSDs have similar read and write IOPS performance, but the key difference between them is their endurance (or life time) (that is, how long they can perform write operations because SSDs have a finite number of program/erase (P/E) cycles). Enterprise Value SSDs have a better cost/IOPS ratio but lower endurance compared to Enterprise SSDs.

SSD write endurance is an important factor to consider because, unlike spinning disk media, NAND Flash has a finite number of writes it will accept. SSD write endurance is typically measured by the number of program/erase, or P/E, cycles the drive incurs over its lifetime and per device is listed as Total Bytes Written (TBW) in the device specification.

Maximum warranted writes per drive:

• 36 TB TBW on the 64 GB SSD (both 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch)
• 72 TB TBW on the 512 GB SSD (both 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch)

This statistic can be used to give an estimate of the drive's remaining life based on the workload the drive will be subjected to. The TBW value assigned to a solid-state device is the total bytes of written data (based on number of P/E cycles) a drive can be guaranteed to complete. Reaching this limit does not cause the drive to immediately fail; it simply denotes the maximum number of writes that can be guaranteed.

A solid-state device will not fail upon reaching the specified TBW. At some point based on manufacturing variance margin, after surpassing the TBW value, the drive will reach the end-of-life point, at which the drive will go into a read-only mode.

As a result of the technology limitations of solid-state devices, care must be taken to use them in write environments that will not exceed the TBW of the drive prior to the required life expectancy of the application.

As an example, let's assume an access pattern of 50% random data and 50% sequential data with block size mixes: 5% of the data is 4k block size, 5% of the data is 8k block size, 10% of the data is 16k block size, 35% of the data is 64k block size, and 35% of the data is 128k block size. The Enterprise Value drives described here are capable of 72 TB of lifetime writes assuming an approximation of the workload stated above as worst case. For the device to last 5 years inside of the 72 TBW, the drive write workload must be limited to no more than 40 GB of writes per day. For the device to last 3 years, the drive write workload must be limited to no more thann 65 GB of writes per day.

Additional information is available at:

• http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/options/storage/solidstate/index.html