Raid 0 Block Size?

Judas · Jan 31, 2004, 06:25 PM

I've been running ATA133 Raid 0 with a block size of 128kb... which... i must say isn't doing to badly... but then again.. i haven't ran anything different..

If you want... here's some more specs of what the controller is and whatnot..

First off.. it's onboard chip.... AT7-MAX2 (Abit) motherboard with a Highpoint Technology 374 controller... (which i must say i love)

Now the controller support 4 IDE ports... plus 2 sata..... meaning i could theoretically raid up to 10 devices.... (yes... sata and IDE can be done... acording to my manual but i'm not going to try it)

I've got 2 Maxtor 30gb ATA133 2Mb Cache hardrives on IDE 0 and 1... my other CD devices on Ide 2 and 3.... all are MASTER

My Highpoint controller supports the following block sizes:

4kb
8kb
16kb
32kb
64kb
128kb (currently at this)
256kb
512kb
1mb
2mb

What's your sugestions?

Judas · Jan 31, 2004, 06:28 PM

Just noticed after making the poll..... i have exactly 10 options.....

WildChild · Jan 31, 2004, 11:51 PM

64 kb here

Judas · Feb 1, 2004, 12:37 AM

.....well ....maybe if i post some results of my current HD scores... that might say something... no?

Judas · Feb 1, 2004, 01:01 AM

Currently in PcMark2002... i score just over the 1600 marks for HD....

Which i don't think is to bad at all....

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm=1695913

Does HD tach work yet?

DarkFoss · Feb 1, 2004, 02:40 PM

Hmm, 4k's window Xp's default I believe. I've read somewhere that 16k gives great performance. Damn I'll have to hunt around a bit and find the forum/thread.

Judas · Feb 1, 2004, 05:31 PM

.....this isn't refering to cluster size though darkfoss.... it's a bit different.... Block size is i think how the raid controller will organize and format the drives.... then how it transfers.....

Vampyromaniac · Feb 1, 2004, 09:14 PM

aka stripe size, Judas?

DarkFoss · Feb 1, 2004, 10:55 PM

yeah I was a bit confused. From what I've been reading setting the block size all depends on what you're going to use it for. The 1 and 2 meg would be best suited for capturing large amounts of video. Here's one of the most thorough explainantions I've found so far. You might want to read the whole article rather than just the part I've linked to. Hope this helps you.
http://www.storagereview.com/guide20...erfStripe.html

Judas · Feb 2, 2004, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkFoss
yeah I was a bit confused. From what I've been reading setting the block size all depends on what you're going to use it for. The 1 and 2 meg would be best suited for capturing large amounts of video. Here's one of the most thorough explainantions I've found so far. You might want to read the whole article rather than just the part I've linked to. Hope this helps you.
http://www.storagereview.com/guide20...erfStripe.html

lol.. i found that a little while ago when i was forced to do a fresh install... (something messed up and started getting ugly)....

That's the link Panging should take a look at..

Vamp, yeah... same thing.. actuall block size and stipe size/stripe length have different names...

Stripe WIDTH however is the number of hardrives you have within the stiped array...

After looking at it... and comparing it to the files i have... and figureing out that i have pretty solid results from my Hds..... i figured i'd stay the same.... (was actually considering moving up to 256kb block size)

PangingJr · Feb 2, 2004, 09:48 AM

Thanks for pointing it to me, its another good information. and i think you've got all the good info you needed. only its still fall into... it depends and you'll have to experiment with it, to get the best performance. check it out and if you have free time enough write it down and share it...

~~Crash Override~~ · Feb 5, 2004, 12:50 AM

my big question is if I have already made a RAID array with a smaller stripe size can I adjust the stripe size without having to reinstall the OS and everything?

~~Crash Override~~ · Feb 5, 2004, 01:07 PM

so no one has a clue eh?

krazy1 · Feb 5, 2004, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Crash Override
my big question is if I have already made a RAID array with a smaller stripe size can I adjust the stripe size without having to reinstall the OS and everything?

Ahh from what I remember you can't. Gotta redo it all...

~~Crash Override~~ · Feb 5, 2004, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by krazy1
Ahh from what I remember you can't. Gotta redo it all...

good thing this is a fresh OS install then without anything on it really

Gonna knock it all down and restart from scratch then

Judas · Feb 8, 2004, 01:12 AM

....Actually after fooling around with another computer and raid... for games.. i'm getting quite a load increase and less smashing when the virtual memory is hit with a 256kb and 512kb stripe length

PangingJr · Feb 8, 2004, 01:51 AM

when the stripe size is too large for a file, the file will simply be passed undivided to one of the drives, yeilding identical performance as a non-RAID setup, no gaining in performance nor it dropped off either when comparing with non-RAID. you'll only loss your hard drive space. but if the stripe size is too small, your performance will be worse than it would be on a non-RAID setup. try testing with a 256kb on your system.

Judas · Feb 8, 2004, 02:01 AM

games around the 2002 and up... seem to have a file size that is over 1mb...... so far.. .the larger the stripe size.. the better the preformance i've had..... i should give a 1mb a try...

PangingJr · Feb 8, 2004, 02:30 AM

you’re using RAID-0 for preformance, the large block size means more preformance and like i said all your loss with the larger size is your disk space. get all the performance numbers you can get from the present setup, then go with the 1mb, soon you'll know...

Judas · Feb 8, 2004, 11:09 AM

it's the smaller files i'm worried about.... such as the jpegs and whatnot i work on...... then again... Photoshop makes some pretty enormous files.... i might just skip 1mb and go for the largest 2mb file...

PangingJr · Feb 8, 2004, 08:09 PM

are you sure that most of the files in the RAID array are large files? its not necessary to have a yes as the answer... i can see you dont really care about wasting your disk space, so then dont worry about the smaller files. rebuilding the array wont take long and its all up to you.