It has been a decade since Backblaze introduced the Storage Pod to the world. In 2009, Backblaze debuted their attractive, 4U storage server with its eye-catching red color and equipped with 45 hard drives. This Storage Pod was able to deliver 67 terabytes of storage for just $7,867 or $0.11 a gigabyte. The Backblaze done something unheard of, they open-sourced the design. If you wanted a Backblaze Storage Pod, you had to build one and they showed you how to. It lead to some amazing projects.
The Backblaze Storage Pod struck a chord with many IT and storage folks who were offended by having to pay a king’s ransom for a high density storage system. This thought throughout the entire industry was shared with Backblaze and is what lead to the Backblaze Storage Pod Version 1.
The first Storage Pod was designed with help from Protocase, who built the first three generations of Storage Pods for Backblaze and went on to create a company named 45 Drives that sells their own versions of the Storage Pod. 45 Drives started this trend, however a multitude of companies have gone on to introduce various designs for high density storage systems ranging from 45 to 102 drives in a 4U chassis.
The Backblaze Storage Pod was more than just affordable data storage. Version 1.0 introduced or popularized three fundamental changes to storage design: 1) You could build a system out of commodity parts and it would work, 2) You could mount hard drives vertically and they would still spin, and 3) You could use consumer hard drives in the system. It’s hard to determine which of these three features offended and/or excited more people, but it is fair to say that ten years out, things worked out in Backblaze’s favor, as they currently have about 900 petabytes of storage in production on the platform.
So what has Backblaze done in those ten years? Andy Klein, Director of Compliance at Backblaze said, “What was exciting then is expected now. And the same thing has happened to our beloved Storage Pod. We have introduced updates and upgrades over the years twisting the usual dials: cost down, speed up, capacity up, vibration down, and so on. We are not out of ideas, but one of the things that we realized over the years is that many of you are really clever. From the moment we open sourced the Storage Pod design back in 2009, we’ve received countless interesting, well thought out, and occasionally odd ideas to improve the design. As we look to the future, we’d be stupid not to ask for your thoughts.”
Wether Backblaze introduces the Storage Pod X or perhaps take some of those Storage Pod knockoffs for a spin, the future seems bright for them and, as they always do, they’ll definitely keep us posted.
