DISKONLY

DISKONLY is a term that refers to a configuration or mode of operation where data storage is exclusively handled by physical disk drives. This means that no other forms of storage, such as RAM disks, solid-state drives (SSDs) with specific configurations, or network-attached storage (NAS), are primarily used for the main data repository. In a DISKONLY setup, the operating system and applications interact directly with hard disk drives (HDDs) or other forms of direct-attached storage for all read and write operations.

This approach is often chosen for its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and the raw capacity that traditional disk drives can offer. It is a common configuration in older server systems or in environments where budget is a significant constraint and high-speed storage is not a critical requirement. However, DISKONLY setups are generally characterized by slower performance compared to systems that incorporate faster storage media like SSDs, which offer significantly reduced latency and higher input/output operations per second (IOPS). The reliability of a DISKONLY system also heavily depends on the quality and redundancy measures implemented for the disk drives themselves, such as RAID configurations.