kiwi Posted April 21, 2005 Posted April 21, 2005 Why do you think WD is limiting? I've always used WD and they worked great so far. Anyway, here are some updated results using striping block 16K and newest nvidia raid drivers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundx98 Posted April 21, 2005 Posted April 21, 2005 Dang nice improvement to say the least kiwi 32. Big thumbs up to ya! Random access time is just a tad slower. 14.3 vs 14.1. but overall throughput is a lot better. Those ATTO benchmarks are the ones to keep an eye on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted April 21, 2005 Posted April 21, 2005 Why do you think WD is limiting? I've always used WD and they worked great so far. The Maxtor controller on the drive is a true ATA-133 device. The Western Digital controller on the drive is only ATA-100. The slower device becomes a limiting factor since the second drive can't use its higher throughput. On your latest run, you set the stripe at 16K but what was the cluster size? 4K? Looks like you are getting top performance from the array now. Good job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted April 21, 2005 Posted April 21, 2005 The Maxtor controller on the drive is a true ATA-133 device. The Western Digital controller on the drive is only ATA-100. The slower device becomes a limiting factor since the second drive can't use its higher throughput. On your latest run, you set the stripe at 16K but what was the cluster size? 4K? Looks like you are getting top performance from the array now. Good job. Hmm, not sure, these both are Serial ATA drives. Anyway cluster size on C is default 4K (you can't change it, can you?), I also run it on D where cluster size is 16K and results are better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted April 21, 2005 Posted April 21, 2005 Hmm, not sure, these both are Serial ATA drives. Unless these are the new generation drives, they are using native SATA interfaces and standard ATA controllers. I've been through enough drives to confirm my earlier statement. Even though they are SATA interfaces, the drive controllers are basically unchanged on all of the older drives. Anyway cluster size on C is default 4K (you can't change it, can you?), I also run it on D where cluster size is 16K and results are better There is a thread on the steps to take when you want to change the default cluster size on a boot partition. Just search the threads. In my testing, a 4-1 ratio of cluster to stripe offered the best performance envelope. 4K clusters on the OS partition or drive and 16K to 64K clusters on the data storage partition or drive. Optimum cluster size is dictated by the data file size. Lots of small files use a 4K. Lots of large files use 16K and above. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DYE Posted April 30, 2005 Posted April 30, 2005 I just have a normal Western Digital 160gb SATA hard drive. Would I see any improvement, or is it worth it for me to buy one of the Hitachi SATA2 drive. I see comparisons and stuff with 2x,3x,4x,5x,100x, drives connected in raid. I'm not that crazy, I just want one and wandering if the upgrade is worth it. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted April 30, 2005 Posted April 30, 2005 DYE, Look back at the start of the thread. I think there may be some benchmarks with a single Hitachi SATA II drive. Since the drives are native SATA II and the controller on the nF4 is SATA II, I would think that the combination would allow higher throughput than an SATA drive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundx98 Posted April 30, 2005 Posted April 30, 2005 @DRYE - Storage is cheap right now. And any video chews up storage fast. lookin at that sweet lil rig in your sig - about the only thing you don't have is a RAID array. The Hitachi SATA2 are definately biggest bang for buck so far. Can't go wrong. Pick up a 160G Hitachi. do a lil single drive testing against the WD160. then maybe RAID em up and mess around a lil with that. can do a lil testin with stripe and cluster sizes too. prolly have a really good time and don't need to do volt mods or nuthin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malaniken Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 Ok guys you and your benchmarks sold me raid-0 (for someone running 7200rpm ata-133 WD, that boot up video using 4x hitachis in raid-0 was.... beautiful). Few questions though, I'm paranoid about my data and it's my understanding that if a single drive in a raid-o array fails, all data is lost. Correct? What kind of safety measures do you guys take: - Do you trust your array with the only copy of your data - Do you keep a larger drive and backup everynight (sounds like pain in the *ss). - Run raid-x forgot the number, but is the one with raid-0 and raid-1 combined (too much money for me ) cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 - Do you trust your array with the only copy of your data NO - Do you keep a larger drive and backup everynight (sounds like pain in the *ss). I keep multiple copies of all my valuable data. I have several computers with large drives or arrays. I also burn everything to DVD and CD to keep copies at work just in case there is a fire that would take the house out. - Run raid-x forgot the number, but is the one with raid-0 and raid-1 combined (too much money for me You're talking about RAID-5 or RAID 0+1. RAID-5 protects the data but at the expense of speed. RAID-0+1 protects the data and gives good throughput. I keep my OS on the RAID-0 array for speed and the data on other drives even if they are in another computer. I can always make a temp copy on the array for editing if I need the speed. Once you lose valuable data, images, music or video, you will backup and protect it for the rest of your life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malaniken Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 Once you lose valuable data, images, music or video, you will backup and protect it for the rest of your life. about 5 yrs ago, wanted to try this "linux" stuff so I attempted to repartition my hdd with fdisk.....from windows...... running windows on the same drive to be changed. lost a lot of stuff of course :shake: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoken Joe Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 Wow finaly made the upgrade and I am impressed! Very smooth loading of windows and games. Prices at ZZF with free 2 day shipping cant be beat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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