your HD tune results?

[Clunk]

If you read my previous posts you will see I will have the hardware.

What hardware have you got?

[DataMatrix]

What hardware have you got?

Well, I thought I'd tell you guys.

I just got my wages so I bought 4 x 320 Gb Seagate ST3320620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ which means I will have 6 come Friday (including the ones I already have) and they will be running on Highpoint RocketRaid 2320 PCI-E 8Ch Raid5 SATAII Controller. I also got P5K Deluxe etc, so should be good when I overclock the hell out of it

I'll let you guys know how I get on, including some benchies.

[DataMatrix]

I have decided to make a 400GB RAID 0 partition and what is left a RAID 5 partition (if the controller lets me do this, since I have never made multiple arrays before).

If it doesn't let me then

[shaithis]

If you have 6 x 320GB drives.......and want to cut them up like that, you are going to have to set them up as:

2 x 320GB drives in RIAD0 = 640GB (double chance of losing all data though)

4 x 320GB drives in RAID5 = 960GB

[DataMatrix]

If you have 6 x 320GB drives.......and want to cut them up like that, you are going to have to set them up as:

2 x 320GB drives in RIAD0 = 640GB (double chance of losing all data though)

4 x 320GB drives in RAID5 = 960GB

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, the stuff just came just then (10am, CityLink is good in Liverpool strangely enough). I'm transferring all my files to the external Maxtor drive I got now, so I'm setting up my parents laptop now, then the fun begins

[DataMatrix]

Okay guys, I'm on my laptop right now, seems as though the Vista x64 drivers for the RocketRaid 2320 don't work very well so I'm installing Vista x86 instead which seems to work, I'll be up and running soon, so be ready for some benchies

[Clunk]

Okay guys, I'm on my laptop right now, seems as though the Vista x64 drivers for the RocketRaid 2320 don't work very well

[DataMatrix]

6 x Seagate 7200.10 320GB in RAID 5 on HighPoint RocketRAID 2320

[DataMatrix]

Second run:


I'll get Diskeeper running in a minute, defrag, then run a 3rd time.

[DataMatrix]

Third run after defrag (strangely enough, the performance is worse):



Don't trust these rusults though, everything opens blisteringly fast

[DataMatrix]

BTW: That is 6 discs with one partition of 380GB and the rest on another partition.

[Supershanks]

Have you got write back cache enabled?? It makes quiet a difference.(also seems to be the reason for the weird burst rate scores)


Try running HDTach & you'll get a feel for whats happening. speeed decreses as you move away from the fastest outer sectors, the average is taken across the whole raid capacity.

My fast raid benches have been based on the 1st array occupying the fastest part of the drive array.

compares the 1st fast array with a single raid0 array across alldrives. as you can see by the comparison there is no difference across the space ocupied by the fast array. The average numbers for the full raid are of course lower as the bring in the slower speeds across the remainder of the drive. To be able to get the averages of the faster part , you need 2 arrays, as non of the benching tools are partition capable.

That's why i suggested a raid0 for the os & a raid5 for the rest of the volume.

Your syatem feels fast because i assume your os partition is the 1st on the raid & therefore occupies the fastest part. ??

[Odc]

Here's mine. Same raptor as Clunk's and probably a few others as well. Odd how the transfer rate seems to drop during the test

[Supershanks]

Odd how the transfer rate seems to drop during the test

read my post above decrease is due to increased seek time as it accesses from outer to inner part of drive/array. This is readily apparent when you see the x axis of the HDTach & the curve.

[DataMatrix]

Have you got write back cache enabled?? It makes quiet a difference.(also seems to be the reason for the weird burst rate scores)


Try running HDTach & you'll get a feel for whats happening. speeed decreses as you move away from the fastest outer sectors, the average is taken across the whole raid capacity.

My fast raid benches have been based on the 1st array occupying the fastest part of the drive array.

compares the 1st fast array with a single raid0 array across alldrives. as you can see by the comparison there is no difference across the space ocupied by the fast array. The average numbers for the full raid are of course lower as the bring in the slower speeds across the remainder of the drive. To be able to get the averages of the faster part , you need 2 arrays, as non of the benching tools are partition capable.

That's why i suggested a raid0 for the os & a raid5 for the rest of the volume.

Your syatem feels fast because i assume your os partition is the 1st on the raid & therefore occupies the fastest part. ??

It's on write-through, and the whole array is RAID 5. But it is partitioned so the fastest part is the main drive.

[Supershanks]

But it is partitioned so the fastest part is the main drive.

you mean the outer part of rthe array, the 1st partition yes?? whaich is fine & as i say why you feel that

though, everything opens blisteringly fast

which is why i like raid