Toshiba promotes combining hard drives for faster performance

Toshiba has opened a new HDD Innovation Lab in Düsseldorf, Germany, aimed at enhancing the speed and performance of hard disk drives (HDDs). The lab will help customers optimize HDD configurations for various applications like cloud storage, surveillance, and NAS systems. By combining multiple HDDs, Toshiba claims significant improvements in overall performance. Rainer Kaese, a senior manager at Toshiba, explained that grouping dozens of HDDs can match the speeds of high-end networks. For instance, 60 HDDs working together can fully utilize the bandwidth of a 100GbE network. The lab will also conduct testing and benchmarking for various IT systems, including storage area networks (SAN). It is equipped with the necessary hardware and software to measure energy consumption and evaluate specific configurations for clients. While solid-state drives (SSDs) are faster, they are also more expensive and in short supply. Toshiba believes that using multiple HDDs is a practical solution to meet growing data storage needs. The lab will share insights and findings with customers through whitepapers and reports.