Reading Time: 2 minutes MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks) is a new storage technology for long-term, online storage of persistent data that takes advantage of a newer generation of SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) disk drives that are designed to be powered on and off and improve energy efficiency. This allows denser packaging of drives in large-scale disk storage systems since only 25% of disks are spinning at any one time. MAID provides for the power management of disks drives, thus creating a new service level for retaining and accessing “archive/persistent” data.
