What is a SATA DOM?
SATA DOMs, which are almost completely unknown in the consumer sector, have so far played a significant role in the professional environment.
A Serial ATA Disk on Module - SATA DOM for short - is a special drive that can be used for a variety of applications in IT and industrial electronics. Compared to conventional hard disc drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs), the SATA DOM is a compact variant that works with the widely used SATA interface.
Its outstanding features:
- Low power consumption
- High reliability
- Small size
What does a SATA DOM consist of?
A SATA DOM is essentially a flash memory module that is plugged directly into the SATA port of a motherboard. It uses the same interface as a conventional SATA hard drive or SATA SSD, but differs in form, function and size. The SATA DOM consists of NAND flash memory and a controller, which is then responsible for managing the data transfer between the module and the host.
SATA DOMs are available in various form factors, all of which are smaller than conventional 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives. Typically, they have a small, bar-shaped design and can be plugged directly into the motherboard without the need for an additional data cable. Some models still require a separate power cable, others are supplied with power directly via the SATA port. This makes it the ideal choice as an OS data carrier for embedded systems, industrial computers and server applications.
The capacity of a SATA DOM varies, but most are designed for applications that do not have large storage requirements. Typically, they range from 1 GB to 64 GB.
Performance, reliability and durability
The performance of SATA DOMs is comparable to that of SSDs based on the SATA interface. Most SATA DOMs offer read speeds of up to 500 MB/s and write speeds of around 300 MB/s. These speeds are more than sufficient for many embedded and industrial applications where fast data access is required but extremely high data volumes do not need to be processed.
One of the main advantages of a SATA DOM is its high reliability, as they usually use SLC (Single-Level Cell) or MLC (Multi-Level Cell) NAND flash memory. These NAND variants - starting with SLC NANDs - offer the highest reliability and service life, as each cell only stores one bit.
Furthermore, many SATA DOMs have additional mechanisms such as wear leveling, bad block management and error correction code (ECC), which help to maximise the service life of the flash memory and prevent bit errors.
Application areas: Industrial computers, servers and data storage
SATA DOMs are particularly common in embedded and industrial computers in order to be able to function even under extreme temperatures, vibrations or moisture. In servers and storage systems, SATA DOMs are often used as boot drives. As they are small and consume little power, they are ideal as a dedicated boot partition on which the operating system is installed. Developers, on the other hand, place the production system on other data carriers in the system.
SATA DOMs are also sometimes used in network devices such as routers and switches, for example as storage for their firmware and configuration files. SATA DOMs also play an important role in medical technology. Especially in MRIs, ultrasound systems and other medical imaging devices, the reliable data storage devices are often used for system data.
Conclusion
Whilst SATA DOMs are not suitable for the mass market due to their limited capacity and higher costs, they are still available in embedded systems, servers and industrial computers. However, with the advent of faster ports and interfaces such as NVMe-M.2, they seem to be increasingly being pushed aside.
