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DataCore SANsymphony vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct comparison

DataCore and Microsoft are both solutions in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category. DataCore is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.5, while Microsoft is ranked #8 with an average rating of 6.0. DataCore holds a 7.7% mindshare in SDS, compared to Microsoft’s 8.4% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of DataCore users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
DataCore SANsymphony
Read 55 DataCore SANsymphony reviews
  • 1,716 Views
  • 923 Comparison Views
97% willing to recommend
Microsoft Storage Spaces Di...
Read 9 Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct reviews
  • 1,538 Views
  • 1,108 Comparison Views
75% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

DataCore SANsymphony and Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct compete in the storage solutions market. DataCore SANsymphony is considered more flexible due to its compatibility with various hardware platforms and robust disaster recovery features, making it preferable for diverse environments.

Features: DataCore SANsymphony offers flexible integration with various storage platforms, enhancing performance with auto-tiering and parallel I/O. Its disaster recovery and continuous data protection features are well-suited for high-performance needs. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct benefits from native Windows integration, utilizing existing infrastructure for scalable and cost-effective deployments. It includes advanced storage functions like three-way mirroring and efficient auto-tiering.

Room for Improvement: DataCore SANsymphony users suggest improving its support for iSCSI configurations and simplifying its pricing model. A more user-friendly web management console could enhance usability. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct could improve RDMA documentation and streamline integration processes. A more streamlined management interface would also be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: DataCore SANsymphony is praised for its strong customer service support, though initial deployment may require expert guidance. It supports various hardware platforms effectively. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is easy to deploy, particularly in Windows environments, but RDMA setup may need advanced expertise. Its native Windows integration simplifies use within existing ecosystems.

Pricing and ROI: DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is considered high, influenced by hardware requirements, and its subscription model may pose budgeting challenges. However, its long-term value is appreciated due to its flexibility and performance. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is perceived as more economical within Windows settings, with built-in functionalities reducing ongoing costs. Both solutions prioritize high availability, though initial setup expenses should be considered.

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To learn more, read our detailed DataCore SANsymphony vs. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Report (Updated: January 2025).
Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony vs. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
January 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

DataCore SANsymphony
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
5th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Storage Software (2nd), HCI (7th), Storage Performance (1st)
Microsoft Storage Spaces Di...
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
8th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 7.7%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is 8.4%, up from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
 

Featured Reviews

TempreviewerD - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust with good replication and access protection
The solution is constantly evolving. Recently, deduplication and compression have been further improved to meet customer needs, and updates are easily implemented without stopping production. The update assistant checks the state of health before using good practices, during checks that the data is still presented for service continuity, and afterward, if the actions carried out are indeed active. Technical support is truly available even without a production incident. This is really essential right now.
Read full review
Stanislaw Mielicki - PeerSpot reviewer
Achieve cost-effectiveness with superior performance while needing to address cluster support
I am working with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct for applications, SQL, and VRS. I am an integrator for this solution The price performance is the best advantage of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct. They introduced the All-Flash array using SSD or NVMe drives without cache drives. It is…
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The DataCore system has been rock solid since we have been using it - from 2007 on."
"It's a software storage solution that can scale as we like. There is also has a parallel feature that enhances the performance of the storage solution. We can separate storage and computing, and we can scale these two parts of the platform to meet business needs efficiently."
"DataCore SANsymphony's stability is okay."
"DataCore's ability to seamlessly move virtual volume data between storage pools as well as their synchronous mirroring has made maintenance and disaster recovery planning achievable."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its versatility, with there being support for all new hardware technologies and platforms, disc mirroring and very effective auto tiering."
"The ability to pool the storage to leverage thin-provisioning is a huge saving in space and costs."
"Mirroring is the most valuable feature because I can provide a high-level of service and optimize the use of obsolete storage."
"DataCore has helped provide flexible, highly available, high-performance storage that otherwise would have been outside our price range."
More DataCore SANsymphony pros
"The price performance is the best advantage of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct."
"The performance, reliability, and affordability has been most valuable."
"Its technical support is excellent."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"It's mainly about the storage expansion, like in hyper-converged solutions."
"The price performance is the best advantage of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct."
"The most valuable feature is that there is no single point of failure."
"The most valuable feature are the caching capabilities using the storage class memory."
More Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct pros
 

Cons

"If you're dealing with big databases or transactional databases, it might not be the best-suited solution. The design of DataCore's solution isn't oriented towards this type of data."
"We are waiting for container support (on the roadmap), as well as a user-friendly full web-administration capability, and an improved API."
"Management could be improved. The management console sometimes reacts very slowly."
"I think the performance reporting can be improved by adding historical statistics into a database for the purpose of comparing."
"The cost is becoming prohibitive since they moved to a subscription model."
"I would like to see reporting added, such as a monthly connectivity report."
"Its interface could be better."
"Datacore is developing a new WebUI with new dashboards. It is a good idea as the classic GUI is lacking dashboards."
More DataCore SANsymphony cons
"Documentation management could be improved"
"The management tool within this solution could be improved. We would also like to be able to access services like Azure when using this solution."
"More optimization could be done in terms of mirroring."
"Microsoft closed the shared cluster support, which is important for the solution."
"It is difficult to get a hardware compatibility certification for the solution."
"The integration is not difficult because there is no GUI, but we need to use a PowerShell command. This makes it difficult to monitor and to see the components' statuses."
"It is scalable, but only beyond two nodes. If I go for two nodes it's not scalable. I need to build a complete cluster from the beginning if I'm going for two nodes."
"I think the online documentation needs a lot of work and so do the sizing tools."
More Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Make sure you are made aware of the annual subscription cost when purchasing."
"We have licensing costs on a yearly basis. They charge per terabyte, so in terms of cost, it can be very costly. They have three different features, and you have to pay extra for those."
"The solution is cost effective."
"The pricing and licensing are better with DataCore."
"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."
"The cost is at the same level as other storage solutions and it is easy to understand the licensing."
"This product has a good ratio between quality and price. In many cases, it's less expensive to work with DataCore than other storage systems."
"It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers."
More DataCore SANsymphony pricing and cost advice
"Cost-wise the product is one of the more affordable within the category of products."
"With the data center licensing and everything that is connected to that, this solution is relatively costly."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?
I rate the pricing of this solution as an eight. It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers.
See all answers
What do you like most about DataCore SANsymphony?
The dashboard is very intuitive, and there are a lot of counters to diagnose what happens during a short period (like when a backup is in progress).
See all answers
What needs improvement with DataCore SANsymphony?
One area where the solution could improve is its software platform. Many customers have expressed dissatisfaction with the software running on Microsoft Windows. Although an attempt was made to dev...
See all answers
How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load bal...
See all answers
What do you like most about Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
Its technical support is excellent.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
Pricing is an advantage of Storage Spaces Direct. Licenses can be on a monthly or yearly basis, depending on the addition of software assurance.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Red Hat Ceph Storage vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 13% of the time
StorMagic SvSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony Logo
StorMagic SvSAN vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 10% of the time
HPE SimpliVity vs DataCore SANsymphony Logo
HPE SimpliVity vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 10% of the time
NetApp ONTAP vs DataCore SANsymphony Logo
NetApp ONTAP vs DataCore SANsymphony
Compared 8% of the time
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VMware vSAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
VMware vSAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 66% of the time
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 11% of the time
StarWind Virtual SAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
StarWind Virtual SAN vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 8% of the time
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 4% of the time
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Logo
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Compared 3% of the time
More Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony
February 2025
DataCore SANsymphony reportDownload DataCore SANsymphony product report
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
February 2025
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct reportDownload Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct product report
 

Also Known As

DataCore Virtual SAN
MS Storage Spaces Direct
 

Overview

Experience peace of mind with DataCore SANsymphony, the ultimate software-defined storage solution alleviating storage management challenges. Say goodbye to the complexities of managing different storage tiers and disruptions with SANsymphony's block-level storage virtualization technology, empowering you to automate capacity provisioning and data placement across diverse storage environments including SAN, DAS, HCI, and JBOD. Break down silos, control data placement, meet business continuity objectives, boost performance, and seamlessly expand or refresh hardware with SANsymphony. Benefit from features like asynchronous replication for disaster recovery, minimizing data loss, accelerating application responsiveness, and integrating new technology non-disruptively. Trusted by industry leaders like NASA, Thorntons, Inc., and TUI Cruises, DataCore SANsymphony guarantees unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and reliability, ensuring uninterrupted data access and application availability while reducing storage costs and inefficiencies.

DataCore

Storage Spaces Direct uses industry-standard servers with local-attached drives to create highly available, highly scalable software-defined storage at a fraction of the cost of traditional SAN or NAS arrays. Its converged or hyper-converged architecture radically simplifies procurement and deployment, while features like caching, storage tiers, and erasure coding, together with the latest hardware innovation like RDMA networking and NVMe drives, deliver unrivaled efficiency and performance.

Microsoft
 

Sample Customers

Volkswagen , Maimonides Medical Center, NASA, Thorntons, Inc., TUI, ISCO Industries, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, United Financial Credit Union, Derby Supply Chain Solutions, Mission Community Hospital, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Colby-Sawyer College, Mount Sinai Health System, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Quorn Foods, Bitburger, University of Birmingham, Stadtverwaltung Heidelberg, NetEnt to name a few.
Acuutech, Quest Technology Management, Bradley, Mead & Hunt
Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony vs. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
January 2025
Free Report: DataCore SANsymphony vs. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
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