3 x ST3500320NS & RAID 0
Wed, 10/17/2007 - 08:49 — Tomas Hlatky
First screenshot is from HDTachRW, three ST3500320NS drives are combined in RAID 0. Strange was, that burst speed value was 245 MB/s in one test and 360 MB/s in other one. For the rest, resulting values have been more or less similar, 200 MB/s for sequential read and 180 MB/s for sequential write. After starting up the W-BC, sequential read value has enhanced up to 255 MB/s, sequential write value has jumped only slightly, up to 187 MB/s. Burst speed value was 2036,8 MB/s.
In the first column, there are results of single hard disk ST3500320NS performance, in AHCI mode reported. In the second column, test results of two and three drives - ST3500320NS set up in RAID 0, with W-BC off are reported, with slightly better outcome for 3 HDDs in RAID 0. Very low value of "copying" application profile is notable, due to that, in H2benchw, 3 HDDs combination results with worse output than 2 HDDs set up in RAID 0. Situation is different in PCMark05, 3 HDDs combined in RAID 0, with W-BC off, results recorded are much better. With the W-BC function on, in HDTachu as well as in H2benchw, 3 HDDs set up in RAID 0 show the best performance, however according to PCmark05, this configuration takes nearly the last position. My overall opinion is, that communication among three tested Seagate disks, RAID 0 and Intel chipset is rather poor, and recorded results are not trustful.
Intel® Matrix Storage Console
Intel® Matrix Storage Console - Enable Volume Write-Back Cache
3 x ST3500320NS in RAID 0
3 x ST3500320NS in RAID 0 & Enabled Volume Write-Back Cache
First screenshot is from HDTachRW, three ST3500320NS drives are combined in RAID 0. Strange was, that burst speed value was 245 MB/s in one test and 360 MB/s in other one. For the rest, resulting values have been more or less similar, 200 MB/s for sequential read and 180 MB/s for sequential write. After starting up the W-BC, sequential read value has enhanced up to 255 MB/s, sequential write value has jumped only slightly, up to 187 MB/s. Burst speed value was 2036,8 MB/s.
ST3500320NS vs. 2 x ST3500320NS in RAID 0
In the first column, there are results of single hard disk ST3500320NS performance, in AHCI mode reported. In the second column, test results of two and three drives - ST3500320NS set up in RAID 0, with W-BC off are reported, with slightly better outcome for 3 HDDs in RAID 0. Very low value of "copying" application profile is notable, due to that, in H2benchw, 3 HDDs combination results with worse output than 2 HDDs set up in RAID 0. Situation is different in PCMark05, 3 HDDs combined in RAID 0, with W-BC off, results recorded are much better. With the W-BC function on, in HDTachu as well as in H2benchw, 3 HDDs set up in RAID 0 show the best performance, however according to PCmark05, this configuration takes nearly the last position. My overall opinion is, that communication among three tested Seagate disks, RAID 0 and Intel chipset is rather poor, and recorded results are not trustful.
