SDFUS73DAB01T Kioxia 7.68TB SAS 12GBPS 2.5 Inch PM6-R Read Intensive Solid State Drive.

Enterprise SAS SSDs for Read-Intensive Workloads

The Kioxia SDFUS73DAB01T 7.68TB SAS 12GBPS 2.5 Inch PM6-R Solid State Drive represents a pinnacle in enterprise-grade storage solutions designed specifically for read-intensive applications. As part of Kioxia’s sixth-generation PM6-R series, this drive capitalizes on the performance consistency, high capacity, and endurance levels required by modern data center environments. It leverages the high-speed SAS 12Gbps interface to ensure seamless integration with enterprise storage infrastructure, maintaining a balanced IOPS performance profile ideal for operations where data is read far more frequently than written.

Capacity and Form Factor Optimization

With a substantial capacity of 7.68TB in a 2.5-inch form factor, the SDFUS73DAB01T model enables data centers to achieve higher density without compromising performance. The compact size ensures compatibility with standard enterprise drive bays, making it suitable for scalable server deployments and storage arrays. Its form factor aligns with existing hardware investments while offering a significant boost in capacity per slot. This makes it a critical asset for environments striving to consolidate storage and reduce physical footprint while accommodating vast volumes of read-centric data.

2.5-Inch SAS Interface Standard

The 2.5-inch form factor is the industry-standard size for enterprise hard drives and SSDs, ensuring that the SDFUS73DAB01T model can be deployed in most SAS backplane-enabled chassis. Whether used in hyper-converged infrastructure, traditional SAN environments, or as part of a cloud-scale storage backbone, this SSD integrates seamlessly with servers and storage appliances. Its support for hot-swap drive bays adds operational flexibility for maintenance and drive replacement without system downtime.

Performance Characteristics and Benefits

Engineered for high-throughput environments, the PM6-R series is optimized for workloads such as data warehousing, online analytical processing (OLAP), media streaming, and content delivery networks. Its read-intensive performance profile means it delivers consistent, high read IOPS with low latency, making it ideal for use cases that demand rapid access to large volumes of unchanging or infrequently changing data.

SAS 12Gbps Interface Advantages

The SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) 12Gbps interface delivers not only fast data transfer rates but also enterprise-grade reliability, error correction, and multipath I/O support. Compared to SATA, SAS offers superior command queuing, dual-port redundancy, and higher overall performance scalability. This makes the Kioxia SDFUS73DAB01T particularly well-suited for mission-critical enterprise applications where storage reliability and availability are paramount. By supporting 12Gbps transfer speeds, the drive achieves quicker data throughput, reduced latency, and faster access times across all reads.

Dual-Port Functionality and Redundancy

Dual-port support on SAS drives is an essential feature for enterprise deployments. It allows the drive to maintain continuous availability by connecting to two separate controllers. This redundancy is critical for fault-tolerant systems and is a key requirement in high-availability environments. In case one controller or data path fails, the secondary port ensures uninterrupted data access. The Kioxia SDFUS73DAB01T leverages this feature to deliver non-stop operation in the most demanding data center conditions.

Read-Intensive SSD Use Cases

As a read-intensive solid state drive, the SDFUS73DAB01T excels in workloads where data is primarily accessed rather than modified. These include video-on-demand systems, search indexing servers, static content hosting, artificial intelligence inference datasets, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) profiles where operating system images are often read and rarely changed. The PM6-R’s consistent read performance enhances application responsiveness and accelerates data access times, especially in environments with massive data read demands.

Cloud-Scale and Hyperscale Deployments

In hyperscale data center environments, efficiency, density, and performance per watt are critical. The Kioxia SDFUS73DAB01T fits well into this model by offering a high-capacity, low-power SSD that supports thousands of simultaneous read requests. It enables storage architects to meet SLA requirements for latency and throughput without increasing power consumption or physical space. The drive’s firmware is optimized to handle parallel access workloads typically found in cloud service providers, ensuring optimal resource utilization.

Data Integrity and Power Loss Protection

Data integrity is a cornerstone of Kioxia’s enterprise SSD offerings. The PM6-R series incorporates end-to-end data protection mechanisms, power loss protection (PLP), and error correction capabilities that guard against data corruption during power interruptions or unexpected shutdowns. The presence of capacitors ensures that any in-flight data is written safely to non-volatile memory in the event of a sudden power loss, protecting against partial writes and maintaining consistency across data sets.

Secure Erase and Sanitization Capabilities

In environments where data security is non-negotiable, the Kioxia PM6-R supports secure erase features and full drive sanitization per industry standards. These functions are particularly useful in compliance-driven industries such as healthcare, finance, and government where data lifecycle management must include secure disposal or repurposing of storage devices without risk of data leakage.

Energy Efficiency and Thermal Throttling

Optimized for power efficiency, the SDFUS73DAB01T features an intelligent power consumption model that balances performance and energy usage. Its design ensures minimal heat output even under sustained workloads, thereby reducing cooling requirements in dense server environments. Lower power consumption translates to reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), which is a key consideration for enterprises managing thousands of drives.

Low Active Power and Idle States

The SSD includes advanced idle state power modes and a low active power profile, making it suitable for workloads with variable activity patterns. When data is not actively being accessed, the drive intelligently transitions to lower power states to conserve energy. This efficiency helps reduce operating expenses over the lifecycle of the drive, particularly in green data centers focused on sustainability and operational efficiency.

Scalability and Long-Term Value

With a 7.68TB capacity in a single 2.5-inch device, the SDFUS73DAB01T enables organizations to scale their storage architecture without re-engineering the physical layout. This scalability is key in supporting business growth and ever-increasing data storage needs. The drive supports RAID configurations and can be integrated into storage clusters for increased performance and resilience.

Integration with Virtualized Environments

Virtual machines and containers benefit from the consistent latency and high read throughput of the Kioxia PM6-R SSD. In highly virtualized infrastructures such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or KVM-based clouds, the SSD ensures that each virtual workload receives the I/O resources it needs to perform optimally. Its low queue depth latency allows for responsive I/O operations across hundreds or thousands of concurrently running VMs.

Manufacturing Quality and Reliability Standards

Kioxia, formerly Toshiba Memory, is recognized globally for manufacturing high-endurance enterprise flash storage. The SDFUS73DAB01T SSD is built with premium-grade components and goes through rigorous testing to ensure compliance with industry reliability standards. Its MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) rating and UBER (Unrecoverable Bit Error Rate) are engineered to meet or exceed enterprise-class expectations, ensuring long-term reliability.

Compliance with Industry Certifications

The drive adheres to multiple international and industry certifications, including RoHS compliance, CE marking, and SAS T10 specifications. It also complies with enterprise SSD protocol standards for interoperability with major OEM server and storage platforms. This ensures seamless integration with hardware from leading vendors like Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Cisco, and Supermicro.