{"id":5098,"date":"2014-03-19T04:59:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T11:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=5098"},"modified":"2025-12-12T14:42:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:42:27","slug":"backblaze-storage-pod-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/backblaze-storage-pod-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Storage Pod 4.0: Direct Wire Drives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blog-pod40-header\"<\/p>\n

To get the latest updates and information
\non ALL of the Storage Pod versions. Click Here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

For the first time since the original Storage Pod, Backblaze is announcing a completely redesigned approach with the introduction of the first \u201cdirect wire\u201d Storage Pod. This new Storage Pod performs four times faster, is simpler to assemble, and delivers our lowest cost per gigabyte of data storage yet. And, once again, it\u2019s open source.<\/p>\n

The Original Storage Pod<\/h2>\n

In order to provide unlimited online backup<\/a> for $5 per month when Backblaze first started in 2007, we needed to figure out the least expensive way to \u201cattach a hard drive<\/a> to the internet.\u201d This meant cost-efficiently attaching as many drives as possible to a single motherboard. We tried USB hubs, daisy-chaining Firewire, and various other approaches. In the end, we found one that worked: port multiplier backplanes.<\/p>\n

We used these port multipliers to design a system with nine five-drive network attached storage (NAS) backplanes that connected via three SATA cards to the motherboard. The results were incredibly dense storage, currently 180TB in a 4U rack, from off the shelf consumer commodity parts. This design has served us through Storage Pod versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, and today stores 100 petabytes<\/a> of customer data in the Backblaze cloud.<\/p>\n

However, the port multiplier backplanes had three key issues:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They were one of the least reliable hardware components,<\/li>\n
  2. When they had an issue, they affected five drives at once, and<\/li>\n
  3. They were not completely a commodity part, thus making them somewhat difficult to buy (especially for someone building a single Storage Pod on their own.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The New Storage Pod Design<\/h2>\n

    Fast forward nearly five years as we introduce Storage Pod 4.0 and a completely new way of attaching 45 drives to the motherboard. The five-drive backplanes are gone, replaced by individual direct wire SATA\/Power connectors. In concert with this, we replaced the three four-port SATA cards with two high performance 40-port HighPoint Rocket 750 cards delivering SATA 3 throughput. Simpler to build and maintain, and seriously fast.<\/p>\n

    The New Storage Cost\u2014$0.051 per Gigabyte<\/h2>\n

    When we designed Storage Pods 2.0 and 3.0 our goal was to reduce the total cost per gigabyte to store data. Pod 2.0<\/a> was great, but when the Thailand Drive Crisis pushed up hard drive prices<\/a>, we struggled to lower the cost of Storage Pod 3.0. With Storage Pod 4.0, we are pleased to announce it delivers 180TB of storage for just $0.051 per gigabyte\u2014our lowest cost per gigabyte to date.<\/p>\n

    What\u2019s New?<\/h3>\n

    Here’s a video highlighting some of the new features in Storage Pod 4.0.<\/p>\n