Raid/Enterprise

Lets do a quick primer on the differences between RAID 0 and RAID 5. RAID 0 RAID 0 is commonly referred to as ‘striping’ or a ‘striped array’ because its approach is striping data across multiple disks without any redundant information. An example of this in simple terms would be similar to taking a sentence, and placing each word on …

ATTO Disk Benchmark V.2.46 ATTO Disk Benchmark is the quickest and simplest method to determine transfer speeds and utilizes the same test methodology as manufacturers in arriving at performance results.  It simply measures raw sequential transfer speeds for both read and write access at various transfer sizes, producing a very easily understood result. Here we can see the controller pretty …

AS SSD BENCHMARK V.1.6 This is a straight no-cache run here, and the results are tremendous! The sequential writing speed is knocking at the door of the maximum write speed that is achievable with these drives.  The caching with the DDR3 definitely comes into play here. The scaling is absolutely superb considering the amount of computational overhead needed for the …

HDTune shows some interesting parameters that others do not, and gives some good latency numbers for various file access sizes. LINKED INDEX Introduction ~ Test Bench & Protocol ~ Card Settings RAID 5 Explained ~ Initial Tests ~ AS SSD HDTune ~ Win 7 & AIDA ~ IOMeter 08 Vantage and Final Thoughts FOLLOW THE DISCUSSION IN OUR FORUMS

WIN7 EXPERIENCE INDEX The Win7 Experience Index (WEI) represents Microsofts method of rating computer systems and, more specific to our usage, provides a storage evaluation through a graduated rating system up to 7.9 on pc components and the system as a whole. This benchmark is built into Windows and anyone can use it by simply typing: Go to Win Orb/All …

Iometer 2008.08.18 For the enthusiast crowd and enterprise, I have included IOMeter which allows for configurable cache sizes.  We have set the test file to 8gb, so you can see the results without cache leverage. There are going to be a few screens displayed so your patience is appreciated as a few shots are just showing the massive amounts of …

PCMARK VANTAGE HDD SUITE In PCMark Vantage the data simply cannot be manipulated, and a result is provided based on the transfer speeds observed in eight simulated user activities. This is also a widely accepted opinion held by many reviewers and storage enthusiasts. Through Vantage, the user gains large benefits in the write-back feature of the  RAID card as the …

Following our reviews of the Areca 1880 RAID Card and LSI 9260-8i MegaRAID Card, we are going to evaluate the LSI 9265-8i MegaRAID Card, an eight-port PCI Express SATA+SAS RAID Controller that is configured for 6Gb/s devices.  With the speed and power of SSDs reinventing mainstream storage, RAID card manufacturers are challenged to deliver a product that can handle the …

EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS This new LSI card is composed of a very small Low-profile MD2 form factor, which measures 6.6 X 2.536, this keeps the footprint of the card very small, and eases installation. LSI went out of the way to keep this card small, instead of expanding the size of the card for this updated revision of the 9260, they …

LSI MEGARAID STORAGE MANAGER The LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager is an intuitive easy-to-use graphical interface to set up and control the raid card, and the virtual drives that you create. Again, a quick click will bring the picture to full size for closer examination. Easy to use wizards make this a quick setup procedure and the user can do an …