Hard Disk Options

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#400182 4-Nov-2010 13:46

networkn: I was just looking at this :

http://pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=HDDOCZ6120

Seems fairly compelling.

Main reason is that my P6T Deluxe only has 3g compatibility.

How do you tell your system to boot from PCI-E?

The system will detect the card as a RAID card and boot off it as normal.

Personally, I wouldn't go near the Revo. They suffer horribly without TRIM (see my above post)

Yes the initial numbers are impressive, but once they have some data moved on and off them they slow down slower than a single SSD.

I wil see if I can find the article with the tests in it.

jaymz

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#400185 4-Nov-2010 13:50

^^^^^^^^^^^^

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/09/03/ocz-revodrive-review-120gb/3

Maybe not as slow as some drives, but there is a definate perfomance decrease which will only worsen over time

networkn

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#400187 4-Nov-2010 13:52

Hi, surely manually running a cleanup occasionally (My system sits idle 12 hours a day when I am at work), or occasionally backup, erase and restore with something like acronis gets around this?

jaymz

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#400190 4-Nov-2010 13:54

networkn: Hi, surely manually running a cleanup occasionally (My system sits idle 12 hours a day when I am at work), or occasionally backup, erase and restore with something like acronis gets around this?

Yup a complete erase and re-copy of data will return the drive to out-of-box speeds, but for me personally I couldn't be bothered with all that effort when other drives do not require me to do it.

The erase is the only option with the REVO Drive. Leaving the system idle won't work (it is how TRIM works)

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#400192 4-Nov-2010 13:55

I am fortunate enough I can afford 2 x 100+GB Drives in RAID 0, but I was hoping to get away without needing either an addon SATA 6G Card, or a new motherboard, since my existing one was only 3g.

Seems very confusing, basically I want something BLISTERINGLY fast and I have a budget of say $1000 all up for everything. I can then sell a couple of my raptors to recover some cost.

jaymz

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#400193 4-Nov-2010 13:55

The article about TRIM explains in detail how TRIM speeds the drive and also how the decay of SSD happens.

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jaymz

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#400195 4-Nov-2010 13:57

networkn: I am fortunate enough I can afford 2 x 100+GB Drives in RAID 0, but I was hoping to get away without needing either an addon SATA 6G Card, or a new motherboard, since my existing one was only 3g.

Seems very confusing, basically I want something BLISTERINGLY fast and I have a budget of say $1000 all up for everything. I can then sell a couple of my raptors to recover some cost.

If cost and hassle are not an issue then for raw speed the Revo is the way to go.

You just need to be aware of the limitations of that type of technology.

In order to maintain the speeds, you will need to fully erase the drives using a SSD erase tool.

kyhwana2

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#400196 4-Nov-2010 13:58

jaymz: Remember TRIM!
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/02/04/windows-7-ssd-performance-and-trim/1

You will find many of the PCI-X based SSDs run in RAID (OCZ REVO Drive for example) which do not support TRIM (yet)

You mean PCI-E? They don't make PCI-X SSDs.

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#400198 4-Nov-2010 14:03

Over what time frame would you expect to see a noticeable degradation ? If it's 6 monthly re imaging isn't an issue, but if it's weekly, screw that!

Having said that, the amount of data written to my SSD's would be relatively low, Maybe a GB a week or something.

jaymz

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#400200 4-Nov-2010 14:06

networkn: Over what time frame would you expect to see a noticeable degradation ? If it's 6 monthly re imaging isn't an issue, but if it's weekly, screw that!

Having said that, the amount of data written to my SSD's would be relatively low, Maybe a GB a week or something.

Page 2 of the review uses the following test simulation. They class it under heavy load:

"To simulate a protracted heavy workload we then connected the drives to a secondary system running without TRIM support and copied the entire 100GB contents of the c: drive over to the SSD. These files include operating system files, multiple game installs, MP3s and larger video files – the typical contents of a modern hard disk. Once the write to the SSD was completed these files were then deleted and the process repeated ten times, resulting in a total write of over 500GB to our SSDs.

We then move the SSD back to the test system (filled from their last write), and clear the drive with a standard windows delete command, followed by an emptying of the recycle bin to ensure the TRIM command had been triggered. The drive is then left for an hour to ensure the TRIM command and any garbage collection algorithms had been completed before being retested using our new suite of benchmarks."

EDIT: It is important to note that TRIM cannot be used on the Revo so the stuff about TRIM being triggered does not apply

jaymz

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#400201 4-Nov-2010 14:08

kyhwana2:
jaymz: Remember TRIM!
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/02/04/windows-7-ssd-performance-and-trim/1

You will find many of the PCI-X based SSDs run in RAID (OCZ REVO Drive for example) which do not support TRIM (yet)

You mean PCI-E? They don't make PCI-X SSDs.

Whoops, got my acronyms mixed up.

I doubt they will make a PCI-e(X)tended SSD anytime! Technology is getting a bit on now. Doesnt have the speeds that would make SSD any use.

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#400209 4-Nov-2010 14:31

Ok so with my budget, what do you guys suggest I purchase specifically? Bearing in mind I have only a 3g motherboard controller, so will likely need an addon card.

geekiegeek

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#400239 4-Nov-2010 15:49

S599 128GB A-Data SSD that has a Sandforce 1200 controller. Mine was around $400 (although that is wholesale but markup shouldnt be that high online).

270/MB Read
250/MB Write

Its awesome!

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#400247 4-Nov-2010 16:03

What about a suitable controller?

I have heard the cheaper brands like AData have much larger problems with capacity loss and pretty average warranties?

Ragnor

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#400304 4-Nov-2010 18:39

networkn: Hi There!

Do SSD warranties exclude loss of capacity typically?

They over-provision the drive with spare extra memory/flash that is not used until some eventually fails.

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