"Spin-on-Demand: Huawei's Clever Trick to Reduce Hard Disk Power Usage"
Huawei unveiled its next-gen 10 Petabyte OceanStor Arctic magneto-electric storage solution at MWC 2024, claiming it could reduce total cost of ownership by 20% compared to tape and power consumption by 90% compared to hard drives. Additional details on the magneto-electric disk (MED) drive suggest it may use spun-down disks to save energy and reduce wear when not in use, potentially competing with tape on performance. However, the exact technology behind the power-saving feature remains undisclosed, with OceanStor Arctic expected to be available outside of China in the second half of 2025.
