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As we have seen, OneFS data reduction techniques enable Dell PowerScale to deliver a high level of storage efficiency. While compression, deduplication, file packing, and inode inlining are the most prevalent and broadly applicable - and the feature of this paper - additional tools such as SmartQuotas thin provisioning, cloning, writable snapshots, and so on, also contribute to the overall efficiency equation.
However, one of the most significant storage efficiency attributes is the way that OneFS natively manages data protection in the file system. Unlike most file systems that rely on hardware RAID, OneFS protects data at the file level and, using software-based erasure coding, allows most customers to enjoy raw to usable utilization levels of 85% or higher. This is in contrast to the scale up NAS industry mean of around 60% raw disk capacity utilization. In-line data reduction serves to further extend this storage efficiency headroom, bringing an even more compelling and demonstrable TCO advantage to primary file-based storage.