hard drives & raid - benchmark and compare!

[red930]

Some members have reported better pagefile performance with 32X8 and 64X16. With my rigs I rarely hit the pagefile so it isn't a big deal for me.

Right now all partitions are set the same 16k & 4 As I recall you mentioned different cluster size for the pagefile partition, should I change cluster sizes?

[catkicker]

Good to hear.. This new build has gone well, my raid array is good to go I have a stable 2.76GHz OC Still working on case fan setup and some cosmetic touches.

[BlackDragon24]

The WD Raptors are incredible drives. The 10,000RPM spindle gets the data under the heads faster than any 7,200RPM drive could ever accomplish. This leads to virtually unbeatable access times.

 

On the other hand they are quite expensive and run very hot. A single 74GB Raptor with SATA 150 runs about $155.00USD.

 

Two Hitachi 80GB SATA II drives will run about $110.00USD.

 

For about 70% the cost of a single Raptor, you've got the two drives necessary for a RAID-0 array that will provide 9/10ths the performance of a Raptor array that would cost over $300.00.

 

The Raptor array would be a tick faster than the Hitachi array but cost almost 3 times more for that small performance increase.

 

Take a look at my sig for Aileen and see which way I went.

 

Heres a look at my 2 Raptors w/ 32K stripe and 4K cluster....rest of specs in sig

 

I've tried everything except spare ide drive with windows to get 8K cluster....PM 8.0 8K cluster format gives me BSOD during Windows install on first reboot. Will soon be moving to 32/8 and also testing 64/16.

 

But so far its pretty damn fast

[Bobthebozo]

What's wrong with the write speed? It's so much slower than the read speed. I checked Sandra, also - it suggested a write cache problem, but write-caching is enabled...

 

Is it possible a bad drive? The HD Tach graph is all over the place, too - looks like the Sawtooth mountains in Idaho...

 

64K stripe w/ 4K clusters - I'd like to fix that soon, but want to nail down this apparent problem first.

 

Any ideas?

[red930]

I would change the cables and retest. If that doesn't improve the scores I would try another format of the array.

What's wrong with the write speed? Any ideas?

[Bobthebozo]

I would change the cables and retest. If that doesn't improve the scores I would try another format of the array.

Here's a couple more screenies with new cables - no change... :confused:

 

Do you mean start all over and rebuild the array? What do you think might have happened? BTW, I used the latest RAID install downloaded from the DFI site, and followed up with the nForce 6.66 platform drivers - I didn't install the SW drivers (even though there were warnings about not being able to use nVidia RAID if I didn't) - might that be part of the problem? In fact, I didn't use anything from the supplied DFI disc - did I miss something?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

p.s. should I post this in the mobo forum for more exposure, ya think? n00b - don't want to cross-post if it's discouraged here...

 

edit - p.p.s. Ran the Hitachi diagnostic on both drives with no problems noted.

[red930]

At least we know it isn't a cable problem at this point.

 

At the very least I would load the 6.66 drivers again. I only use the nVidia drivers so I wouldn't know how to run RAID without them.

 

I rarely load an OS with the drivers on the CD. I like to keep the latest tested drivers on my own CD so I know exactly what's loading.

Do you mean start all over and rebuild the array? What do you think might have happened? BTW, I used the latest RAID install downloaded from the DFI site, and followed up with the nForce 6.66 platform drivers - I didn't install the SW drivers (even though there were warnings about not being able to use nVidia RAID if I didn't) - might that be part of the problem? In fact, I didn't use anything from the supplied DFI disc - did I miss something?

[Fight Game]

ExRoadie, or anyone....Don't you think it would be better to have your OS at 64/4, since the OS has many small files to load, and another partition at 64/16 with all your games, and larger files? I know this isn't your suggested 4:1 ratio, but like I said, since the OS has many smaller files? I've read the tutorials here, and TONS of stuff on the internet, so please don't tell me to go read this or that, just asking what you think.

[ncsa]

Here is what I know as I have tried these settings, for which I found that the Ratio of 4:1 still fits the bill.. also during the testing I saw that 64K had a performance hit and hence moved away from the default stripe down to 16K and on the nF4 controller as the Sillicon one is alot slower.

 

The challenge is to try and balance this against the array size but with large arrays that becomes difficult. I have settled for 16K stripe and 4K cluster on most partitions esp. the OS and Swap and can sustain 195Mb/s which I am happy with

 

EDIT:

 

Here is the post to my findings

 

ExRoadie, or anyone....Don't you think it would be better to have your OS at 64/4, since the OS has many small files to load, and another partition at 64/16 with all your games, and larger files? I know this isn't your suggested 4:1 ratio, but like I said, since the OS has many smaller files? I've read the tutorials here, and TONS of stuff on the internet, so please don't tell me to go read this or that, just asking what you think.

[Bobthebozo]

At least we know it isn't a cable problem at this point.

 

At the very least I would load the 6.66 drivers again. I only use the nVidia drivers so I wouldn't know how to run RAID without them.

 

I rarely load an OS with the drivers on the CD. I like to keep the latest tested drivers on my own CD so I know exactly what's loading.

Thanks, ExRoadie. Tried reloading the 6.66 drivers, swapping to SATA ports 3 & 4 - still no difference.

 

I did notice that the RAID drivers in the 6.66 package are newer than the ones I used to set up the array (downloaded from DFI site) but doubt that should make a difference.

 

Think I'll post this in the mobo forum.

 

Thanks!

[flexy]

nice thread...i always say the hitachis are kicka$$ drives and often underrated....they beat the &!^$@ out of WD , seagate, maxtor and i also dont have any reliability problems with mine. (7k250 160gb sata)

 

NOW i really, really want to look into raid0 and the 7k80 for $52 off newegg 3x or 4x....looks just amazing. Very nice benchies eva2000 !

 

I just have a question and posting around like mad....how to get my old XP install on a new Raid0 withour losing data since i really do not want to reinstall all my stuff !

 

I am wondering if i can just build an array with, say, 3 Hitachi SATAII and then use Ghost or another tool to image over my XP install and data from my old HD ?

 

Also....what about cluster sizes ? Can i image my stuff over with ghost, have a BOOTABLE SATA array/system then and can i change cluster sizes with Partitionmagic ?

(in the nvraid docs it LOOKS like you cannot have a bootable raid0 with Sata !!!)

 

is 32k/8 or 64/16 much better than 16/4 ???

 

Can anyone help me out there ?'

[red930]

Acronis Drive Image is reported to work with nVidia RAID.

 

Someone recently posted that Norton Ghost works if you set certain switches in the software.

 

I haven't tried it since I keep my valuable data on other drives and rebuild my OS every few months.

nice thread...i always say the hitachis are kicka$$ drives and often underrated....they beat the &!^$@ out of WD , seagate, maxtor and i also dont have any reliability problems with mine. (7k250 160gb sata)

 

NOW i really, really want to look into raid0 and the 7k80 for $52 off newegg 3x or 4x....looks just amazing. Very nice benchies eva2000 !

 

I just have a question and posting around like mad....how to get my old XP install on a new Raid0 withour losing data since i really do not want to reinstall all my stuff !

 

I am wondering if i can just build an array with, say, 3 Hitachi SATAII and then use Ghost or another tool to image over my XP install and data from my old HD ?

 

Also....what about cluster sizes ? Can i image my stuff over with ghost, have a BOOTABLE SATA array/system then and can i change cluster sizes with Partitionmagic ?

(in the nvraid docs it LOOKS like you cannot have a bootable raid0 with Sata !!!)

 

is 32k/8 or 64/16 much better than 16/4 ???

 

Can anyone help me out there ?'