HPE Solid State Drives: Write Intensive (WI) vs. Mixed Use (MU) vs. Read Intensive (RI)

Posted by HPE Storage Specialist on Jan 12, 2023

HPE SSDs are available in three categories based on their typical target workloads: Read Intensive, Mixed Use, and Write Intensive.

The workloads indicate the number of drive writes per day (DWPD) that you can expect from the drive. (DWPD is the maximum number of 4K host writes to the entire drive capacity of the SSD per day over a five-year period.) 

Read Intensive SSDs are usually the lowest price, with a typical Endurance of <= 1 DWPD. Write Intensive SSDs have the highest Write performance, with a typical Endurance of >= 10 DWPD. Mixed Use SSDs are for workloads that need a balance of strong Read and Write performance, with Endurance typically > 1 and < 10 DWPD.

HPE SSD Comparison

HPE Write Intensive Solid State Drives 

HPE Write Intensive 12G SAS and 6G SATA SSDs provide high write performance and endurance. They are best suited for mission-critical enterprise environments with workloads high in read and writes. Write Intensive workloads include online transaction processing (OLTP) include online transaction processing (OLTP), virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), business intelligence, and Big Data Analytics.

Typical applications for Write Intensive SSD can include:

  • Online transaction processing (OLTP): OLTP systems are designed to handle a large number of small, random writes. For example, an online store might need to update its inventory database every time a customer makes a purchase.
  • Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI): VDI systems create virtual desktops for users. These virtual desktops need to be constantly updated with new data and applications.
  • Business intelligence (BI): BI systems analyze large amounts of data. This data needs to be constantly written to and read from storage.
  • Big data analytics: Big data analytics systems analyze huge amounts of data. This data needs to be constantly written to and read from storage.

HPE Mixed Use Solid State Drives 

HPE Mixed Use 12G SAS and 6G SATA SSDs are best suited for high I/O applications with workloads requiring balanced performance between reads and writes. When paired with HPE ProLiant servers, these SSDs help you meet the challenges of Big Data.

Typical applications for Mixed Use SSD can include:

  • General purpose computing: This includes tasks such as browsing the web, checking email, and using office productivity software.
  • Gaming: Games often require a lot of both read and write operations, from loading textures and models to saving game progress.
  • Video editing: Video editing software often requires a lot of random read and write operations, as it needs to access and modify large files quickly.
  • Virtualization: Virtualization platforms often require a lot of both read and write operations, as they need to access and modify the virtual machine files quickly.

HPE Read Intensive Solid State Drives

HPE Read Intensive 12G SAS and 6G SATA SSDs deliver enterprise features at an affordable price in HPE servers. Entry-level pricing is fueling the rapid adoption of SSDs for read-intensive workloads, because the cost per IOPS compares favorably to HDDs. Read Intensive SSDs deliver great performance for workloads high in reads such as boot/swap, web servers, and read caching, just to name a few.

Typical applications for Read Intensive SSD can include:

  • Retail websites: Customers need to be able to quickly view photos and text about products, which the e-commerce application reads from storage.
  • Medical imaging: Healthcare professionals need to be able to quickly view MRIs, X-rays, and other medical images, which are stored on SSDs.
  • Video-on-demand: Viewers need to be able to quickly start watching videos, which are stored on SSDs.
  • Social media: Users need to be able to quickly view text, images, and videos, which are stored on SSDs.
  • Read-intensive databases: Users need to be able to quickly work with an existing data set multiple times, but not change it very often.

Next Steps

The best way to shop for  SSDs is by your HPE server model, or you can contact Global One Technology with any questions about HPE SSDs.