This 976TB external storage solution with 28 GB/s transfer speeds likely costs over $130,000

HighPoint, a company recognized for providing storage solutions with gargantuan capacities, has introduced a new 976TB external NVMe storage solution based on the RocketStor 6542AW. The latest product, which targets data-intensive workloads, also achieves transfer speeds of up to 28 GB/s.

External hard drives and SSDs are great for portability; however, they may occasionally prove insufficient if you need pure raw storage capacity. While it is true that not everyone needs close to a petabyte of external storage, such capacity could be extraordinarily beneficial for professionals or enterprises handling substantial amounts of data — or who are simply in need of a significant backup solution. Measuring 9.25 (W) x 4.84 (H) x 9.27 (D) inches, the RocketStor 6542AW is sufficiently compact to seamlessly integrate into any environment — in an office, a living room, or anywhere you would store your PC.

The RocketStor 6542AW is an external enclosure featuring a power supply and two cooling fans for active heat dissipation. It has eight removable 2.5-inch NVMe bays with hot-plug support. However, it only accommodates U.2 or U.3 SSDs, making standard M.2 drives incompatible. As a result, it is limited to supporting enterprise or data center SSDs, such as Solidigm’s D5 series.

Highpoint has installed eight Solidigm D5-P5336 122TB SSDs in the RocketStor 6542AW to provide 976TB of storage. The D5-P5336 is a U.2 PCIe 4.0 drive with 192-layer QLC (quad-level cell) 3D NAND and sequential read and write speeds up to 7,400 MB/s and 3,200 MB/s, respectively. A single SSD probably doesn't look impressive, but they're fast in unison when part of a RAID array. Remember that the RocketStor 6542AW supports RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays.

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You cannot connect the RocketStor 6542AW to your system via a standard USB port. Instead, it features a CDFP interface that links to the included Rocket 1544 PCIe adapter. This low-profile AIC requires a PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot to achieve optimal performance. It has one CDFP port capable of delivering a bandwidth of up to 400 Gb/s, equating to an effective transfer rate of 32 GB/s. However, the D5-P5336 drives do not fully utilize this interface, as the 976TB is rated for speeds of up to 28 GB/s.

The RocketStor 6542AW showcases a fairly typical design. On the front, users can access the removable 2.5-inch bays along with three status LEDs. The rear features a 100 Mbps Ethernet port, a CDFP port, a USB Type-C port restricted to USB 2.0 speeds, a switch to change the function of the USB Type-C port, a power switch, a mute button to silence alarms, and a Kensington lock for securing the device.

HighPoint has not yet listed its new 976TB solution on the e-store, nor has it disclosed pricing or availability. The standalone RocketStor 6542AW is priced at $1,799, while each Solidigm D5-P5336 122TB costs approximately $16,345, leading to a possible total price of $132,559. By comparison, the existing RocketAIC 6542AWW solution — which offers half the storage (491.52TB) — is available for $78,999. Don't worry, you can purchase the RocketStor 6542AW separately and acquire the SSDs on your own, if you are able to find better pricing.

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