P61441-001 HPE NVMe PCI-E 5.0 Read Intensive E3.S 7.68TB SSD

HPE P61441-001 7.68TB Enterprise SSD

The HPE P61441-001 represents the pinnacle of enterprise storage technology, delivering unprecedented performance and reliability for data-intensive workloads. This 7.68TB PCI Express 5.0 NVMe solid state drive is engineered specifically for read-intensive applications where consistent high performance and low latency are critical. Built on the latest generation CM7 architecture and packaged in the innovative HPE E3.S Thin Carrier form factor, this enterprise SSD sets new standards for storage density, power efficiency, and throughput in modern data center environments.

Key Specifications

The HPE P61441-001 combines cutting-edge interface technology with advanced NAND flash management to deliver exceptional storage capabilities. With its PCIe 5.0 interface supporting NVMe 2.0 protocol, this drive offers double the bandwidth of previous generation PCIe 4.0 devices while maintaining backward compatibility with existing infrastructure. The 7.68TB capacity point provides optimal balance between storage density and performance characteristics, making it ideal for enterprise deployment at scale.

Capacity and Form Factor Details

This enterprise SSD features exactly 7.68 terabytes of formatted NAND flash storage, providing ample space for demanding enterprise applications. The drive utilizes the E3.S form factor with HPE's thin carrier design, measuring 7.5mm in thickness to enable high-density configurations in space-constrained server environments. The E3.S form factor represents the next evolution in enterprise storage packaging, offering improved thermal characteristics and signal integrity compared to traditional 2.5-inch drives while maintaining similar installation and handling procedures.

Physical Dimensions

The HPE P61441-001 measures 76.0mm (width) x 133.35mm (length) x 7.5mm (height) in its thin carrier configuration. The drive weighs approximately 100 grams, making it one of the lightest high-capacity enterprise SSDs available. The compact form factor allows for up to 32 drives to be installed in a single 1U server chassis when using appropriate backplanes, achieving unprecedented storage density of nearly 246TB in a single rack unit.

Interface and Protocol

This drive features a native PCI Express 5.0 x4 interface, delivering theoretical bandwidth of up to 16 GT/s per lane for a total of 64 GT/s bidirectional throughput. The interface fully complies with NVMe 2.0 specification, supporting all enterprise features including multi-stream write, virtualization, and enhanced power management. The drive maintains backward compatibility with PCIe 4.0 systems, automatically negotiating to the highest supported speed of the host system without requiring configuration changes.

Performance Characteristics

The HPE P61441-001 is engineered for read-intensive workloads, delivering exceptional random read performance that exceeds 1.4 million IOPS at queue depths typical of enterprise applications. Sequential read speeds approach the theoretical limits of the PCIe 5.0 interface, reaching up to 14,000 MB/s under optimal conditions. Write performance is equally impressive for a read-optimized drive, with random write capabilities exceeding 400,000 IOPS and sequential write speeds up to 7,000 MB/s, ensuring balanced performance for mixed workloads.

Endurance and Write Amplification

As a read-intensive enterprise SSD, the HPE P61441-001 is rated for 1 drive write per day (DWPD) over its 5-year warranty period, translating to approximately 14,000 terabytes written (TBW) total endurance. This endurance rating makes the drive suitable for workloads where read operations dominate but substantial write activity still occurs. Advanced write amplification reduction technologies ensure that the actual NAND writes are minimized, extending the practical lifespan of the drive well beyond its rated specifications in typical deployment scenarios.

NAND Technology and Over-Provisioning

The drive utilizes high-quality 3D TLC NAND flash memory with substantial over-provisioning to maintain consistent performance and extend endurance. The actual physical NAND capacity exceeds the advertised 7.68TB user capacity, with approximately 15% of the raw NAND reserved for background operations, garbage collection, and wear leveling. This aggressive over-provisioning strategy ensures that performance remains consistent even as the drive approaches full capacity and during sustained write operations.

Performance Consistency Technologies

HPE has implemented multiple technologies to maintain consistent performance including dynamic thermal throttling that adjusts performance based on operating temperature without dramatic performance drops. The drive features advanced garbage collection algorithms that operate in the background with minimal impact on foreground operations. Multi-level caching utilizing both DRAM and pseudo-SLC caching ensures that burst write operations are handled efficiently while maintaining protection against unexpected power loss.

Power Loss Protection Implementation

Enterprise-grade power loss protection is a critical feature of the HPE P61441-001, ensuring data integrity during unexpected power failure events. The drive incorporates multiple large capacitors that provide sufficient hold-up time to complete in-progress writes and flush all cached data to non-volatile NAND memory. This comprehensive power loss protection covers both the DRAM cache and the controller's internal buffers, guaranteeing that no data is lost even during simultaneous power failure to the entire system.

Power Consumption

Despite its high performance capabilities, the HPE P61441-001 maintains excellent power efficiency with typical active power consumption of 12-14 watts during mixed workloads. Peak power during maximum performance scenarios remains below 18 watts, while idle power consumption drops to under 5 watts when the drive is active but not processing commands. The drive supports multiple power states as defined in the NVMe specification, allowing systems to optimize power consumption based on workload requirements.

Reliability and Data Integrity

Enterprise storage demands exceptional reliability, and the HPE P61441-001 delivers with a rated mean time between failures (MTBF) of 2.5 million hours and an annualized failure rate (AFR) of 0.35%. These reliability figures are achieved through rigorous component selection, comprehensive burn-in testing, and advanced error correction technologies that far exceed consumer-grade SSDs. The drive is designed for 24/7 operation in demanding data center environments with continuous workload processing.

Error Correction and Data Protection

Data integrity is paramount in enterprise storage, and the HPE P61441-001 implements multiple layers of error correction including strong low-density parity check (LDPC) codes with soft decoding capabilities. The drive features end-to-end data protection that validates data integrity from the host interface through the controller and to the NAND flash cells. Additional protection includes advanced RAID-like schemes within the drive that can recover from complete NAND die failures without data loss, providing an extra layer of redundancy beyond what is typical in enterprise SSDs.

Security Features

The drive runs sophisticated firmware that manages all aspects of operation including performance optimization, wear leveling, bad block management, and error handling. HPE provides regular firmware updates that address security vulnerabilities, improve performance, and enhance reliability. Security features include comprehensive sanitize commands that quickly erase all user data, TCG Opal 2.0 compliance for self-encrypting drive capabilities, and secure firmware update mechanisms that prevent unauthorized modification of drive firmware.

Encryption and Security Protocols

All data written to the HPE P61441-001 is automatically encrypted using XTS-AES 256-bit encryption, providing protection against unauthorized data access even if the physical drive is removed from the system. The encryption is performed in hardware with no performance impact, and encryption keys are managed internally with optional external key management support. The drive supports multiple security states including frozen, locked, and unlocked modes to prevent tampering while maintaining compliance with enterprise security policies.

Wide Compatibility

The HPE P61441-001 is designed for seamless integration into HPE ProLiant, HPE Apollo, and HPE Synergy systems, with firmware optimized specifically for HPE server architectures. The drive is qualified for use in numerous HPE server platforms and is supported by HPE iLO management interfaces for comprehensive monitoring and management. While optimized for HPE environments, the drive maintains full compliance with industry standards ensuring broad compatibility with any PCIe 5.0 NVMe-enabled system.

Use Cases and Applications

The read-intensive nature of the HPE P61441-001 makes it ideally suited for numerous enterprise applications where read performance dominates the workload profile. Database systems, particularly read-heavy operational databases and analytical databases, benefit significantly from the high random read performance and low latency. Content delivery networks, video streaming platforms, and large-scale web applications leverage the high sequential read performance and capacity to serve content efficiently to numerous simultaneous users.

Virtualization and Cloud Deployment

In virtualized environments, the HPE P61441-001 excels as shared storage for virtual machine images, particularly where multiple virtual machines are booted from common golden images. Cloud service providers utilize these drives for instance storage where high performance is required for customer workloads. The consistent low latency ensures predictable performance in multi-tenant environments, while the high capacity enables greater consolidation ratios without sacrificing storage performance for virtualized workloads.

Big Data and Analytics Platforms

Big data platforms such as Hadoop, Spark, and other distributed computing frameworks benefit from the high sequential read performance when processing large datasets. The drive's capacity and performance characteristics make it suitable for storing intermediate processing results and frequently accessed reference data. In machine learning workflows, the drive accelerates training by rapidly loading training datasets into memory while providing sufficient performance for checkpoint operations during extended training sessions.

High Performance Computing

High-performance computing applications often involve reading large input datasets, checkpointing computational state, and writing final results. The HPE P61441-001 provides the ideal balance for these workloads with exceptional read performance for input data and sufficient write performance for checkpoint operations. Scientific computing, financial modeling, and engineering simulations all benefit from the low latency and high throughput characteristics of this enterprise SSD in HPC storage hierarchies.