The ZCS(512) & BCS(520) Saga continues

Jon Toigo asked me to respond to a post on his blog .

Hi Jon:

I find PQ65’s comments very interesting, but I don’t understand the reasoning behind his comments. If BCS (520) is better then ZCS (512) and NetApp uses ZCS on their Nearstore products, doesn’t this mean that customers D/R and backup drives are more vulnerable to corruption? It would seem so, because NetApp recommends Dual Parity on ZCS drives. This seems to leave customers relying on a less resilient technology for their backups. How much less reliable are ZCS systems than BCS systems, and is it worth the risk? That is what my customers and I are trying to find out.

Can NetApp provide reliable, repeatable and verifiable data to show their consumers that the Nearstore products that use ZCS drives are as reliable as NetApp’s products that use BCS technology? Does NetApp keep its financial data on ZCS drives or BCS drives? Why not allow consumers to judge their cost to risk ratio by disclosing test results that can be duplicated and verified?

Clearly there are performance and cost advantages to each technology and drive type. NetApp could easily disclose accurate and repeatable test results, consumers could then make informed and economical decisions on where to store their D/R and back up data. And everyone would be a winner.