Scale-out vs. Scale-up Storage: What's the Difference?

The processes of scaling out or scaling up storage systems both result in additional storage capacity. In that respect they address the same short-term need. In many other respects the approaches are very different and will affect the performance, management, and resiliency of your storage system.

Scale-up storage offers the ability to add more HDDs (hard disk drives) or other capabilities to a storage device until a limit is reached. At this point, the device is replaced with a more robust product and data is migrated from old to new. Forklift upgrades result in budget impacts during the initial investment, and again when the unit needs to be replaced.