Data Management Glossary
Storage Refresh
A storage refresh is the planned replacement or upgrade of storage infrastructure at the end of its service life, usually on a three to five year cycle tied to hardware warranties, support contracts, and depreciation schedules. A refresh can replace arrays with newer models from the same vendor, switch vendors, add capacity, or shift some or all data to cloud storage. The decision is part technology and part finance: every refresh sets the organization’s storage cost base for the next several years.
Optimizing data storage costs is also a primary driver of a storage refresh as data volumes continue to grow and IT budgets do not.
What Drives a Storage Refresh
- End of support. Vendors raise maintenance costs or end support on older arrays, which forces a replace-or-renew decision.
- Capacity. Unstructured data growth outpaces the capacity purchased at the last refresh.
- Performance. New workloads, including AI training and inference, need lower latency or higher throughput than existing systems deliver.
- Cost. Newer systems use less power and rack space per terabyte, and a refresh is the moment to renegotiate.
- Data protection and compliance. Newer platforms add ransomware protection, immutability, and encryption features that auditors now expect.
- Strategy. A refresh is often the trigger for a move to hybrid cloud or a change of primary storage vendor.
A storage refresh process typically involves assessing current storage needs, evaluating available storage solutions, planning the migration or deployment process, and implementing the new storage infrastructure while minimizing disruption to ongoing operations. It’s important to carefully plan and execute a storage refresh to ensure a smooth transition and avoid data loss, and end-user or application disruption.
Read the eWeek article: 5 Mistakes to Avoid in a Storage Refresh
- Mistake 1: Making Decisions without Holistic Data Visibility
- Mistake 2: Choosing One-Size-Fits-All Storage
- Mistake 3: Becoming Locked into One Vendor
- Mistake 4: Moving Too Fast
- Mistake 5: Ignoring Future Storage Needs
Learn more about the Komprise Storage Refresh Assessment.
Why Storage Refresh Economics Changed in 2026
AI infrastructure demand is absorbing flash supply, and enterprise storage buyers are paying for it. TrendForce forecast enterprise SSD prices would rise 53% to 58% quarter over quarter in the first quarter of 2026, a record quarterly increase, and projects NAND flash contract prices to rise another 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Source: TrendForce
Gartner estimates a 130% increase in combined DRAM and SSD prices by the end of 2026.
Source: Komprise Flash Stretch
The result: buying the same all-flash capacity at refresh costs more than it did at the last refresh, and waiting for flash prices to fall is a risky strategy. The more effective lever is to buy less primary capacity in the first place.
Storage Refresh and Unstructured Data
Unstructured data, meaning files and objects such as documents, images, video, genomics data, engineering files, and logs, makes up 80% to 90% of enterprise data and is the main driver of NAS capacity purchases. It is also the hardest data to size correctly for a refresh. Characteristics include:
- No schema. File systems report capacity used, not what the data is, who owns it, or whether anyone still needs it.
- Inactive data dominates. Typically about 70% of unstructured data on primary storage is cold, meaning it has not been accessed in months or years, yet it sits on the most expensive tier.
- Multi-vendor sprawl. Most enterprises run file data on more than one platform, for example Dell PowerScale (formerly Isilon), NetApp ONTAP, and Everpure (formerly Pure Storage) FlashArray or FlashBlade, plus cloud file and object storage. Each array reports only on itself.
- Growth compounds. A refresh sized on today’s capacity, including cold data, is undersized within a year or two.
A refresh sized on raw capacity carries cold data onto new premium hardware and pays for it again.
The Case for a Data Assessment Before You Refresh
The five most common refresh mistakes all trace back to missing data visibility: sizing without knowing what the data is, buying one tier for all data, locking into a single vendor, moving too fast, and ignoring future growth. Array-native reporting and vendor tiering features do not solve this for three reasons.
- They see one platform. An assessment built on one vendor’s tools misses data on every other system.
- They tier blocks, not files. Block-level tiering moves data inside the vendor’s own ecosystem, and data tiered to the cloud this way is not readable as files outside that array.
- They create a rehydration penalty. Proprietary tiering often requires data to be moved back to primary storage before it can be migrated or accessed, which means a future refresh or vendor change carries that data cost again.
A storage-independent assessment answers the real refresh questions first. How much of the data is cold? Who owns it? What will it cost to keep on flash versus a lower-cost tier? How much new primary capacity is actually needed?
How Komprise Supports a Storage Refresh
Komprise analyzes unstructured data across NAS, object, and cloud storage from any vendor, then tiers and migrates it without lock-in.
- Assess. Komprise indexes file metadata across every storage system into the Komprise Global Metadatabase and reports data growth, age, access patterns, file types, and top owners. It projects capacity freed and models savings across destinations. The Komprise Flash Stretch Assessment applies this analysis to identify how much primary flash capacity can be reclaimed, up to 70%.
- Tier. Transparent Move Technology tiers cold files at the file level to lower-cost object or cloud storage. Users and applications continue to access tiered files from the original location, and tiered data remains accessible natively at the destination with no rehydration penalty. TMT cuts 70%+ of storage costs.
- Right-size the new system. With cold data tiered, the refresh purchase covers only the hot data and planned growth. At current prices, reclaiming 70%+ of primary flash capacity is worth more than $350,000 per petabyte.
- Migrate. When the refresh includes a vendor change or cloud move, Elastic Data Migration moves the remaining data with 27X faster NFS migrations, and Komprise Hypertransfer delivers 25X faster SMB migrations
Storage Refresh: Like-for-Like Replacement vs Assess and Tier First
| Evaluation Criteria | Without a Data Assessment | With Komprise |
|---|---|---|
| Sizing basis | Current raw capacity, including cold data | Hot data plus planned growth, after cold data is tiered |
| Visibility | Per-array reports from each vendor | One index across all NAS, object, and cloud storage in the Global Metadatabase |
| Cold data | Moves onto new premium flash at 2026 prices | Tiered at the file level before purchase; up to 70% of primary capacity reclaimed |
| Vendor coverage | Tied to the incumbent vendor tools | Dell PowerScale, NetApp ONTAP, Everpure FlashArray and FlashBlade, and any NFS, SMB, or S3 storage |
| Tiering method | Vendor-native block tiering inside one ecosystem | Transparent Move Technology tiers whole files; data stays readable at the destination |
| Rehydration penalty | Tiered data must return to primary before migration | None |
| Migration | Vendor tools or manual copy | Elastic Data Migration, 27X faster NFS; Komprise Hypertransfer, 25X faster SMB |
| Backup footprint | Unchanged | Reduced, because cold data leaves the primary backup set |
| Next refresh | Same problem, larger | Policies continue across the new system |
Storage Refresh FAQ
What is a storage refresh?
A storage refresh is the planned replacement or upgrade of storage hardware and software at the end of its service life, typically every three to five years. It can mean new arrays from the same vendor, a switch to a new vendor, added capacity, or a move of some data to cloud storage.
How often should enterprises refresh storage?
Most enterprises refresh primary storage every three to five years, driven by warranty and support terms, depreciation, and capacity growth. The right interval depends on how fast data grows and how much of existing capacity is consumed by cold data that could live on a lower-cost tier.
How do you reduce the cost of a storage refresh?
Size the new system on hot data only. Analyze all unstructured data first, tier cold files to lower-cost object or cloud storage with a transparent, file-level approach, then buy primary capacity for active data and planned growth. Because about 70% of unstructured data on primary storage is typically cold, this is the largest single lever on refresh cost.
Should we buy more flash storage or tier cold data first?
Tier first. With TrendForce reporting record enterprise SSD price increases in 2026, every terabyte of cold data kept on flash costs more than it did at the last refresh. Intelligent data tiering of cold data before a purchase reduces the capacity you buy and extends the life of existing arrays.
How do you reduce Dell PowerScale, NetApp ONTAP, or Everpure capacity before a refresh?
Identify cold files across each system with storage-independent analytics, then tier them at the file level to object or cloud storage. Vendor-native options such as PowerScale CloudPools and SmartPools or ONTAP FabricPool keep tiered data inside that vendor’s ecosystem. A file-level approach keeps tiered data accessible as files at the destination and avoids a rehydration penalty at the next refresh.
What is a storage refresh assessment?
A storage refresh assessment analyzes existing data before a hardware purchase. It measures how much data is active versus cold, who owns it, how fast it is growing, and what it would cost to keep each category on primary versus lower-cost storage. The output is a right-sized capacity plan rather than a like-for-like replacement.
What is the rehydration penalty in a storage refresh?
The rehydration penalty is the time and cost of moving tiered data back to primary storage before it can be migrated or read outside the original array. Proprietary block-level tiering often triggers it, so a vendor change or refresh forces data back onto expensive capacity before it can move.
How does Komprise help with a storage refresh?
Komprise analyzes unstructured data across all NAS, object, and cloud storage, tiers cold files with Transparent Move Technology, and migrates what remains with Elastic Data Migration. Customers reclaim up to 70% of primary capacity before buying, which is worth more than $350,000 per petabyte of flash at current prices.
Source: Komprise Flash Stretch