Stripe RAID

[PowerHungry]

I have a nice RAID setup, 2 20Gb IBM 60GXP's on a Abit Hotrod 100 with a stripe size of 64k. I used the default, because I could not find a good source of what stripe size was most efficient for typical desktop use. Da LAN Tech has an extensive FAQ on IDE RAID, and they recommend 16k. What does everyone here think?

[xortam]

Stripe size settings are highly dependent on what type of applications you run and their file sizes. The best thing to do is find a good benchmark (I like ZD WinBench) or test with your applications to find the optimal size.

[PowerHungry]

I run typical office apps like, well, Office XP, some Visual Studio, and occationally some game that load from a CD.

As for the benchmark, I'll have to try it when I have time tonight.

[Gurm]

The best thing you could do for your RAID performance is get a Promise Fasttrack and pitch the "hotrod" into the nearest body of water.

- Gurm

[PowerHungry]

Is there really that much of a difference between the Promise FastTrak and the HotRod?

[Wombat]

I think the simple answer is, "One sucks, the other doesn't."

[Gurm]

Yes there is. Highpoint RAID will farg up your sound card, your video card, and perhaps your entire system. Every time they release a new BIOS you need to cross your fingers and pray real hard that flashing it isn't the last thing you do before losing all your data.

Add to that the fact that it is very CPU-intensive and performs like poop, and... well... yeah Highpoint sucks. A lot.

The Promise card is cheap. Like $25 cheap. Just go get one - you'll be glad you did.

- Gurm

[GT98]

Gurm,

The cheapest Promise Fastrack ATA100 RAID controller I could find was at newegg.com for $75 bucks...

Scott

[Gurm]

Oops! I always forget that I have to explain this.

You buy a Promise Ultra100 controller, and a quick BIOS flash changes it into a Fasttrack.

http://www.stormpages.com/crazyape

- Gurm

[ Edit ] Fixed the link

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Gurm
Oops! I always forget that I have to explain this.

You buy a Promise Ultra100 controller, and a quick BIOS flash changes it into a Fasttrack.

http://www.stormpages.com/~crazyape

- Gurm

You've found a missing page, or typed in a wrong URL
chuck

[PowerHungry]

Hey, guess what f#*(@ up? I was trying to reset the strip size by using Norton Ghost 2002 to copy the drive, reset the strip and RAID, then copy back. Well, it didnt work , and I am stuck attempting to coax the RAID and Norton to work. I didn't know that ghost didnt like RAID.

As for the FastTrack (which it looks like I'll be getting anyway), is there only a bios difference between the raid and the U100 controller? I wish I'd have known that before.

[xortam]

You can't do an image backup of a RAID array and then change the stripe size. You need to do a file backup instead. You can recover your image backup by resetting your array to the stripe size that was set at the time of backup.

[PowerHungry]

That was the first thing I tried, but life isn't that easy, xortam. Apparently, a small bit of my ghost image is messed up, which is completely throwing the HotRod into a fit.

I had two partitions backed up, one of which apparently worked fine, but the important one doesn't. I am in the process of installing Win2k on a spare HD so I can access the Ghost Explorer and extract the files there to the partition. As long as I have my data, I can reinstall an OS in my sleep.

[Gurm]

Yes, in MOST cases the only difference between the Ultra100 and the FastTrack 100 is a BIOS, some drivers (you'll need to change a 4 to a 0 in a bunch of places), and perhaps a bit of resistance from pin 36 to ground. 150milliohm resistors are available for a couple cents apiece at Radio Shack... and since you should put your drives on separate channels anyway to maximize performance, just stuff the resistor into the holes on the primary slave connector.

- Gurm