RAID benchmarks and questions

[Redskins91]

I got my initial testing done and am satisfied for now. I used SiSoft Sandra 2000 on a

Pentium II 400 Mhz
Intel SE440BX motherboard
128 MB RAM PC 100
FastTrack100 IDE RAID
2 striped (64K) Maxtor 8.4 GB drives
(5400 rpm, ATA-4/UltraDMA, 9.0 ms)
don't laugh, I know they're not much but good for testing.
Win 98 SE
1600 X 1200 16-bit color

UDMA66 13000
UDMA33 8000
UDMA 6500
EIDE 3500

My results:

one drive on onboard IDE 3611
two drives striped on FT100 15540

this is interesting

two drives striped on FT100 with Promise Cache installed 16163

That's a pretty good increase over what I was running and I haven't even got the 7200 ATA100 drives yet.

I did another little test I thought was interesting too. Soldier of Fortune previously loaded the first level in 41 seconds and now does it in 28 seconds. All setting in the game were identical.

Now for the question, I have another drive (36.5 GB). Can I set this drive up as it's own array and use it for it's storage space? and if so what would be the best setup. Two striped drives in one array as masters on each channel and the 3rd drive as a slave on one of the channels? and if so which channel should I use? or the two 8.4 GB drives on channel one as master and slave with the 36.5 GB drive as a master on channel 2?
Any help would be appreciated.

[Stan]

Hi,

I love the FastTrak RAID controller as well.
In my Gaming machine, I have 4 IBM 22Gxp (7200rpm, 2MB cache) in a RAID0 array (stripe). My PC flies !!!
I can't wait for the new SuperTrak RAID5 controller !!!

Re: your HD config.
I would set up the 2 Maxtor as master on each channel of the FastTrak and set up the 36GBHD as master on the on-board IDE controller (on the motherboard).
You would then boot the PC from the FastTrak.

FYI: you can not create an array with only one HD. By definition, an array contains at least 2 HD.

Have fun

Stan

[Redskins91]

I am having fun! SOF runs much smoother. I have tried what you said Stan and it doesn't work. I don't think I have the jumpers on the 36 GB drive set correctly but I have always had trouble with this drive. Linux is the only OS I've ever successfully installed on it and it's corrupted data several times but I haven't really needed to rely on it. From the test you can tell I've been getting lousy performance from the disk controller on this board. One reason I wanted to try my scenario is that I thought it might straighten out some of these data corruption problems and take advantage of the UDMA66 spec of the drive. I know I was incorrect noting one drive as an array but that came from the manual. There's a note that says FastTrack100 permits striped arrays of 1,2,3,4 drives and later on the manual says in rare cases a user may use a single drive in a striping or spanning mode creating an individual array ID offering conventional controller performance. I'm gonna give it a try anyway. If I can't get it to work this way I will get it straightened out set up like you said. If this does work do you think it will be better to set up the 36 GB drive as a slave or master? I'm am thinking a slave but don't really know.
I appreciate everybody's help. I read all the posts Stan and Mntsnow made about RAID controllers and they were very helpful. Keep up the good work. I'll continue to post my miniscule benchmarks for everybody so we can all see the what kind of improvements we might expect.

[Stan]

Hi,

There's a note that says FastTrack100 permits striped arrays of 1,2,3,4 drives and later on the manual says in rare cases a user may use a single drive in a striping or spanning mode creating an individual array ID offering conventional controller performance.

A stripe needs at least 2 HD. The data is broken down into blocks and each block is written to a separate disk drive.

More info about RAID found here (http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html)

What's the make of your 36GB disk ?
Check the manufacturer's web site for jumper configuration.
You must be able to set it as a master, or maybe your drive is corrupt...


Now, if you decide to leave the 36GB on the FastTrak, I would hook it on channel 2 as a slave... although I would prefer to have it on the motherboard IDE controller...

Stan

[This message has been edited by Stan (edited 07-31-2000).]

[Redskins91]

I finally got done trying it all. This was a real nightmare. The only way I can make it work is putting the 36.5 GB drive on the motherboards port. I tried every combination I could. The FastTrack recognized the drive correctly when I had it as a slave on the second channel both under spanning and striping. I think all my problems come from the motherboard BIOS and/or the MS fdisking and formatting.
I have always had trouble with this drive. It's a 36.5 GB 5400 rpm ATA66 Diamond Max 36.
From the very start I something was strange when the drive postes as a 93653U8 but the website lists it as a 93652U8.
I has corrupted alot of data in the past and I found that if I use the cylinder limitation jumper with Maxtor's BIOS and partitioning tool it seems reliable but only NT and Linux will see it. 98 explorer doesn't see it but in the Device Manager it's listed. If I use MS Fdisk and then format it. It is seen in 98 but has corrupted data every time I have done that. btw, this maxtor formatting disk kicks ****. It formatted and partitioned this drive in a few minutes at most. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it when the drive was on the FastTrack. It only see the IDE port.
Thanks for the help Stan. I wonder how many more times I won't listen to you before I realize I should always listen and save myself the trouble.
So, everything is fine now.
I can't wait till I can afford some ATA 100 drives!!!!

[Stan]

Hi,

You say that only NT Linux could see the drive.
I think this is due to the file system used on the drive.
Win 98 can not "see" NTFS or Linux partition. Therefore, it will not display any drive letters for the partition. But, the drive will be listed in Device Manager.

Then you say that after formatting the drive under Win98, it was able to see it.
That makes sense as Win98 will obviously format it with its own file system (FAT16 or FAT32).

One of my PC at home has 7 partitions.
The 1st one is FAT16 and can be seen and accessed by NT and Win98
Three of them are NTFS and Win 98 does not see them and can not assigne any drive letters for them !
The last 3 are FAT32. These are for Win98 use only.
NT can still see them though. But, using Disk Administrator, I do not assign any drive letters to these partitions.

Stan

[This message has been edited by Stan (edited 08-02-2000).]