Beginning with MySQL 5.1.6, it is possible to store the nonindexed columns of NDB tables on disk, rather than in RAM as with previous versions of MySQL Cluster.

As part of implementing MySQL Cluster Disk Data work, a number of improvements were made in MySQL Cluster for the efficient handling of very large amounts (terabytes) of data during node recovery and restart. These include a “no-steal” algorithm for synchronising a starting node with very large data sets. For more information, see the paper Recovery Principles of MySQL Cluster 5.1, by MySQL Cluster developers Mikael Ronström and Jonas Oreland.

MySQL Cluster Disk Data performance can be influenced by a number of configuration parameters. For information about these parameters and their effects, see MySQL Cluster Disk Data configuration parameters and MySQL Cluster Disk Data storage and GCP Stop errors

The performance of a MySQL Cluster that uses Disk Data storage can also be greatly improved by separating data node file systems from undo log files and tablespace data files, which can be done using symbolic links. For more information, see Section 17.5.10.2, “Using Symbolic Links with Disk Data Objects”.