What is EDSFF? - E1.S & E1.L, E3.S & E3.L

Introduction

Modern data centers demand storage solutions that deliver maximum performance and density. While traditional hard drives and SATA SSDs have served their purpose, NVMe SSDs with their high-speed PCIe interfaces have become the gold standard for enterprises requiring the fastest storage infrastructure.

The Enterprise and Data Center SSD Form Factor (EDSFF) is a growing NVMe SSD form factor purpose-built to maximize performance, power efficiency, thermal management, and storage density in enterprise settings over traditional 2.5” U.2 and M.2 NVMe SSDs.

EDSFF drives offer

• Hot-swappable
• Higher thermal design power solutions
• Higher storage capacity
• Fit 1U and 2U server rack height for increased density

In this guide, we'll explore the EDSFF family—including E1.S, E1.L, E3.S, and E3.L—and examine how these form factors are transforming data center storage architecture.

What is EDSFF

EDSFF (Enterprise and Data Center SSD Form Factor) emerged as a solution to overcome the constraints of legacy SSD designs, prioritizing airflow, density, serviceability, and performance. By doing so, EDSFF enables organizations to achieve superior space utilization and power efficiency in high-density storage deployments.

EDSFF is often found in conjunction with compute servers to keep fast data close, minimizing latency. Also, there are dedicated EDSFF storage platforms.

EDSFF Advantages

EDSFF introduces an entirely new connector design that natively supports hot-swappable operation while delivering form factors specifically optimized for storage server density:

• E1.S — Compact gum-stick profile similar to M.2, with a width precisely matched to the internal height of 1U servers
• E1.L — Extended ruler-style design that stretches the E1.S footprint to accommodate significantly higher storage density, reserved for dedicated EDSFF storage servers.
• E3.S — Form factor comparable to 2.5-inch U.2 drives, engineered for enhanced performance
• E3.L — Slightly elongated variant of E3.S, enabling the integration of additional memory chips for greater capacity

Multiple thickness options are available to accommodate varying heatsink requirements, for supporting higher power draw to push more performance.

Traditional NVMe Form Factors' Limitations

Before EDSFF, enterprise storage relied on two primary NVMe form factors, each with distinct limitations:

M.2 NVMe Drives

• Lacks native hot-swap functionality, essential for enterprise operations
• Compact gum-stick design with 4x PCIe lanes, originally engineered for consumer laptops and desktop systems
• If used in the data center, it is predominantly used as a boot drive for the OS

2.5-Inch U.2 Drives

• Based on the familiar 2.5-inch form factor from SATA SSDs and compact HDDs
• Similar connector to SATA with additional pins to enable PCIe connectivity & hot-swap
• Became the de facto standard, but its shared architecture imposes constraints on both power delivery and maximum performance potential

E1.S & E1.L - Compact Density Champion

The E1.S and E1.L form factors represent EDSFF's compact, high-density storage solutions optimized for space-constrained environments, prioritizing airflow thermals while maximizing density per rack unit.

E1.S delivers a hot-swappable, gum-stick profile designed to fit perfectly within 1U servers. E1.L extends this design philosophy with a ruler-style format that can accommodate up to 60TB of storage, making it ideal for capacity-intensive workloads.

E1.S - Gum Stick

The E1.S form factor represents the most compact member of the EDSFF family, serving as a hot-swappable successor to the M.2 form factor for data center environments. Front-mounted and precisely sized to match the width of a 1U chassis, E1.S drives are engineered for high-density, low-power deployments where storage must be tightly packed.

• Deployment Scenarios: E1.S excels in density-critical environments like scale-out cloud storage architectures. The form factor is predominantly deployed in 1U storage servers where vertical space is at a premium.
• Data Center Benefits: The ultra-slim profile of E1.S allows organizations to maximize the number of drives within each 1U storage node. This density advantage proves invaluable when rack space represents a significant cost factor, and scalability must remain economically efficient.

E1.L - Extended Ruler

The E1.L form factor extends the E1.S design to deliver substantially higher capacity per drive. This longer profile accommodates additional NAND flash chips, making it the preferred choice for capacity-intensive applications. In storage-dedicated 1U servers, E1.L drives can dramatically amplify the density of high-speed NVMe storage within a single rack unit.

• Deployment Scenarios: E1.L is purpose-built for workloads demanding high-density, high-performance storage—think large-scale databases, AI training datasets, and machine learning model repositories. The extended form factor typically means these storage nodes prioritize networking capabilities over GPU integration, as the internal chassis space is optimized for maximum storage capacity.
• Data Center Benefits: E1.L delivers exceptional storage density within a remarkably compact footprint, offering a compelling solution for organizations facing space constraints while requiring massive capacity. This form factor strikes an optimal balance between raw capacity and physical efficiency.

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E3.S & E3.L - High-Performance Powerhouse

The E3.S and E3.L form factors represent EDSFF's high-performance storage solutions engineered for demanding enterprise workloads, delivering superior power delivery and thermal management in the familiar 2.5-inch chassis profile.

E3.S provides a hot-swappable, high-performance alternative to legacy 2.5-inch U.2 drives, perfectly sized for 2U servers. E3.L extends this performance-oriented design with additional length to accommodate higher capacity and increased power delivery up to 70W, making it the ultimate choice for workloads requiring both maximum performance and substantial storage capacity.

E3.S - Alternative to 2.5” SSDs

The E3.S form factor offers a high-performance alternative to conventional 2.5-inch drives, specifically engineered for demanding workloads that require superior airflow and thermal management. While physically similar to 2.5-inch SATA or U.2 drives, E3.S leverages the EDSFF interface to enable higher power consumption and significantly enhanced performance capabilities. The 2.5-inch profile aligns perfectly with the internal height specifications of a 2U server chassis.

• Deployment Scenarios: E3.S is the go-to choice for high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence workloads, and other data-intensive applications that depend on sustained, high-throughput storage performance.
• Data Center Benefits: E3.S drives provide superior power delivery and thermal efficiency compared to legacy form factors, enabling data centers to execute demanding applications without sacrificing storage density or overwhelming cooling infrastructure.

E3.L — Maximum Capacity & Performance

The E3.L form factor merges the performance characteristics and thermal advantages of E3.S with significantly expanded capacity. Slightly longer than its E3.S counterpart, E3.L can house additional NaND flash chips, for even higher-capacity storage potential. The extended design also supports increased power delivery, translating to even better performance characteristics.

• Deployment Scenarios: E3.L is optimally suited for large-scale, high-capacity storage arrays where organizations cannot compromise on either performance or capacity.
• Data Center Benefits: E3.L proves invaluable in environments where both capacity and performance represent critical requirements. The larger form factor enables data centers to consolidate storage infrastructure, achieving massive capacity targets without expanding physical footprint or consuming additional rack space

Exxact TensorEX 1U Storage Server features the 12x E3.S Storage Server dedicated for fast data storage in a slim 1U form factor. Equip your data center with dense storage. Get a quote on Exxact TensorEX TTT-123850123 today.

Why EDSFF SSDs Are Transforming Data Centers

The rapid adoption of EDSFF stems from several compelling advantages that directly address critical data center challenges:

1. Superior Storage Density

EDSFF's optimized designs—particularly the E1.S and E1.L variants—enable organizations to achieve dramatically higher storage densities. Data centers can now pack substantially more storage capacity into identical or even reduced physical footprints, maximizing the return on expensive rack space.

2. Optimized Thermal Performance

Every EDSFF form factor is purpose-engineered to promote optimal airflow and thermal dissipation, tackling one of the most significant operational challenges in modern data centers. Additionally, EDSFF drives deliver more efficient power utilization compared to legacy form factors, reducing both energy costs and cooling requirements.

3. Enhanced Operational Serviceability

Hot-swap capability is native to all EDSFF drives, allowing technicians to replace failed or upgrade drives without powering down systems. This design choice dramatically reduces maintenance-related downtime and improves overall system availability.

4. Cost-Effective Scalability

Though EDSFF drives may carry a premium over U.2, the increased density and power efficiency often result in lower total cost of ownership in large deployments. Through optimized physical dimensions, superior thermal management, and unprecedented density, EDSFF drives enable organizations to scale storage infrastructure efficiently while handling increasingly demanding workloads.

5. Meeting Modern Computational Demands

The computational requirements of today's most advanced applications—generative AI models, data-intensive HPC simulations like weather forecasting and molecular dynamics, and large language models—demand not only massive computing power but equally massive pools of high-speed storage to feed that compute. Keeping that data local to the compute servers and running a large software-defined storage platform can decrease latency and increase throughput.

6. Industry-Wide Adoption

Major storage manufacturers, including Samsung, Kioxia, and Micron, now offer EDSFF up to 60TB with 120+TB drives on the horizon. There is broad support from server OEMs, and Exxact is positioned to offer solutions with EDSFF drives.

Configure and Deploy EDSFF Storage with Exxact

Ready to leverage the density and performance advantages of EDSFF? Exxact offers EDSFF-enabled storage and compute servers!

• Exxact TensorEX TS4-109509664 4U NVIDIA MGX 8x GPU Server with 20x E1.S
• Exxact TensorEX TTT-123850123 1U Storage Sever with 12x E3.S
• Exxact TensorEX TTT-138740787 1U Storage Server with 24x E1.S
• Exxact TensorEX TS4-104366747 8U NVIDIA HGX B300 Server with 8x E1.S

Whether you need guidance on high-performance storage architecture or are ready to deploy bulk NVMe storage solutions, our team is here to help. Contact Exxact to discuss your storage requirements, or explore our Enterprise Storage Solutions to configure a system tailored to your infrastructure.