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Raidon Pro Drive Dual
- Thread starter zek0
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I would have to agree I would like any info. You can use 500gb scorpio blacks in a raid1. You could use a pair of 100gb owc ssd's in a raid0. seems like a nice piece of gear. edit= I should have said owc 200gb in a raid0 my bad
You certainly could, it would be a complete waste of money though.
This sled connects to a single SATA connection which can transfer about 250MB/s. Even a single SSD can saturate this bandwidth.
yeah 250mb/s as a limit is not what you think it is. Take a look at the 4k reads and writes no ssd does 100mb/s. In fact show me a pair of ssds that exceed 250mb/s in raid0 testing. I have never seen one.
you are right about big files they would saturate but not small ones. using a pair in a hardware raid (read hardware raid) ( that means stable when compared to software raid) should be faster and more stable then a single ssd. also check your prices a 200 gb owc raid pro is 680 a 400gb raid pro is 1680
so 680 plus 680 is 1360 vs 1680 that is 320 saved the raid0 tray is 150. so you would 170 ahead by buying a pair of 200gb and the raid tray. then by buying the bigger 400gb. also the 400gb is a 2.5 in drive it needs a mounting device so 20 more means you are 190 ahead cashwise with a raid0 setup in owc's raid0 tray.
I have done a lot of testing with mac minis and raid0 setups. A lot of my effort was trying to saturate the mini sata connection. I was unable to do so completely even with a pair of intel x25-e in raid0. The 4k files never passed 67MB/s far from saturation. Right now as I type with my mini esata hack using a sans digital towerstor with a built in raid engine and a pair of patriot inferno 200gb ssd's in a 400gb raid0. All my testing shows no saturation with small files.
I do agree that there are other raid0 solutions that would work better, but it is not a waste of money in many cases it saves money to use the op's idea. If it works like my sans digital it would not be a bad idea at all.
In fact try to list an internal raid solution with dedicated hardware for less then 150.
two xbench tests both with inferno 400gb raid0 and my mini. one with safari xbench and netflix
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=464957
no saturation in the 4k files score is slow due to neflix running babylon 5
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=464956
same test without netflix score is higher but no saturation in the 4k files.
if you purchased 2 200gb ssd from owc they are the same as these patriots. so my setup is about 170 or so cheaper this way then 1 400gb ssd.
my speeds are equal and yes with the 256k files 220mb/s is saturated so look at the test and see only on some big files did I max out no small files and the 400gb of ssd costs less as a raid0 in a solution using hardware not software..... This is why I am curious if someone has tested the tray. I know for a fact it works with an external 2 drive raid0 sans digital. i can post the intel scores but no longer own them.
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=464957
no saturation in the 4k files score is slow due to neflix running babylon 5
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=464956
same test without netflix score is higher but no saturation in the 4k files.
if you purchased 2 200gb ssd from owc they are the same as these patriots. so my setup is about 170 or so cheaper this way then 1 400gb ssd.
my speeds are equal and yes with the 256k files 220mb/s is saturated so look at the test and see only on some big files did I max out no small files and the 400gb of ssd costs less as a raid0 in a solution using hardware not software..... This is why I am curious if someone has tested the tray. I know for a fact it works with an external 2 drive raid0 sans digital. i can post the intel scores but no longer own them.
How do you figure this Pro Drive creates a true hardware RAID?
For that price it's almost impossible to put in a real RAID controller. I bet they chose a cheap fake RAID controller, which creates a software RAID, just as you'd do using the OS X disk utility.
So why not creating a software RAID with two dedicated SATA ports in the first place? No limitations for both random and sequential access (as long as you stay under the 660MB/s limitation of the ICH10R chipset).
For that price it's almost impossible to put in a real RAID controller. I bet they chose a cheap fake RAID controller, which creates a software RAID, just as you'd do using the OS X disk utility.
So why not creating a software RAID with two dedicated SATA ports in the first place? No limitations for both random and sequential access (as long as you stay under the 660MB/s limitation of the ICH10R chipset).
Good discussion. For close look
Thanks Transporteur for answers i mean you right about performance
Thanks for answers.
Thanks Transporteur for answers i mean you right about performance
Thanks for answers.
look not to argue but the sans digital unit I have is for raid0 and raid1 only. it is fully bootable up to 4tb on both of my mac minis and even will boot and run my imac.
my mac minis are esata hacked my imac is fw800. I can pick the piece of gear up and walk it over plug it in and it boots. most soft ware raids are for muiltiple types. so far no one has answered the op with a legit answer. My gear would work and be stable I am of the opinion it is a hardware solution. I would like to know if the raidon is a hardware raid0 only solution. I have a pair of 200gb ssd ready to use in it and I would like to know if anyone on this site has used it. I would also like to see posted tests for it.
I also have a patriot 2 bay (pos) raid0 raid1 jbod case
http://www.patriotmemory.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=6&catid=43&prodgroupid=125&id=837&type=19
don't buy this and think it will work as a fast raid0 boot solution it does not. It crashes and burns it is a pos. in comparison to the sans digital it is like comparing a guppy to a shark.
So when you mention a piece of gear having fake raid control this is it. At least price wise it is too good to be true. It has 3 types of raid and cost 70 bucks. That is 23 dollars for each raid type . It doe snot boot and drops out over and over. the op's gear in his question has only one raid type and costs 150. that is about 6x the price per raid type. So the only piece of info you have correct for sure is that a 2 bay sata software raid0 will be faster. So maybe some one can answer the op and myself if the owc dedicated raid0 sled is a good solution. Speed is nice but stability is just as important. Just do me a favor and don't use the term "a complete waste of money so lightly"
http://www.patriotmemory.com/products/detailp.jsp?prodline=6&catid=43&prodgroupid=125&id=837&type=19
don't buy this and think it will work as a fast raid0 boot solution it does not. It crashes and burns it is a pos. in comparison to the sans digital it is like comparing a guppy to a shark.
So when you mention a piece of gear having fake raid control this is it. At least price wise it is too good to be true. It has 3 types of raid and cost 70 bucks. That is 23 dollars for each raid type . It doe snot boot and drops out over and over. the op's gear in his question has only one raid type and costs 150. that is about 6x the price per raid type. So the only piece of info you have correct for sure is that a 2 bay sata software raid0 will be faster. So maybe some one can answer the op and myself if the owc dedicated raid0 sled is a good solution. Speed is nice but stability is just as important. Just do me a favor and don't use the term "a complete waste of money so lightly"
mail from OWC:
The Raidon Pro Drive 3G SATA PCI-e Host Adapter is currently NOT recommended for optimal SSD performance.
The Adapter will have an average 213MB/s READ and 182MB/s WRITE performance.
For the best performance, we advise installing SSDs into native SATA bays to RAID.
The Raidon Pro Drive 3G SATA PCI-e Host Adapter is currently NOT recommended for optimal SSD performance.
The Adapter will have an average 213MB/s READ and 182MB/s WRITE performance.
For the best performance, we advise installing SSDs into native SATA bays to RAID.
That still doesn't mean that these boxes create a hardware RAID.
Almost all external RAID boxes you can get for the consumer market have fake RAID controllers that create a software RAID.
Software RAID does NOT mean that the device is managed by the computer it is connected to, which is why you can plug your device in multiple computers.
Thank you this is a worthwhile piece of info which is helpful to my decision. It would be okay with a pair of slower ssds like intel x-25m 80gb. They have slower write speeds so 2 in a raid0 writing up to 182mb/s is about the best they can write in the first place.
It also would be helpful as it saves a bay for larger drives. Thus a complete waste of money is an over statement.
like I said I only object to two things 1) "complete waste of money"
Is a gross overstatement of the facts in this case.
2) Plus you have based it on your imagination not your use of the gear. Even you can see that using one less bay and being able to boot with it is not a complete waste of money.
I don't mind having a discussion about how to spend money in a setup. I do mind being told something is a complete waste of money when it plainly is not. I also mind when someone continues to try to win an argument by switching off point. (software raid vs hardware raid) If the double bay is stable and works at advertised speed it is a good deal with the right drives in it. Speed is nice but stability is important.
As an aside to get back on point so far not a single poster has the piece of gear or chooses to post an answer. Maybe if you had not been so nasty by making a blanket statement like a complete waste of money the op and I would have received an answer from a user of it. Now the person that could answer us won't because of your nasty statement. Remember my first post was for getting info about this piece of gear for a user. Not a blanket statement from someone that never used it.
Thanks again Transporteur for continuing to stick to your guns.
To anyone on site that has used the gear please pm me with a real life answer. I do have a pair of intel x-18m 80gb's that are in 2.5inch cases. So even if this piece of gear is too slow for my faster ssd's (patriot inferno's in my case) it will work with the intel's speedwise since intel x-18m's only go up to 160mb/s or so when writing in raid0s. Any info on it's stability would be helpful to me.
TIA Phil
Oh boy...
As you can clearly see in post #3 my statement about "complete waste of money" was related to your statement to put in two OWC SSDs in the sled, nothing else!
I don't have to use a bicycle to know that I'm faster from here to London by car.
I've used and still use more than enough gear in my Mac Pro to know that the option of having two drives in a single sled is more than tempting, you can however not force the bandwidth of two drives through a single connection. Simply not possible considering equal speeds of all connections.
Don't proclaim me as being an idiot. Thank you.
Wait a second! YOU first mentioned anything about hardware and software RAID, NOT ME! And it was also YOU who mentioned your whatever kind of gear Sans Digital box, which has clearly NOTHING to do with the topic of the Raidon Pro Drive!
Get your facts right and don't blame me on misleading the conversation!
Of course it is a good deal with the right drives in it. I NEVER said anything against that. With a pair of high end SSDs though, you'd lose about 50% speed.
Nothing to thank. And I will still stick to my statement, which you certainly did not understand.
The OP however clearly understood what I meant. But yeah, lets blame me, I honestly don't care.
Again, with appropriate drives, there's nothing wrong with the device, at least for speed concerns.
As you can clearly see in post #3 my statement about "complete waste of money" was related to your statement to put in two OWC SSDs in the sled, nothing else!
I don't have to use a bicycle to know that I'm faster from here to London by car.
I've used and still use more than enough gear in my Mac Pro to know that the option of having two drives in a single sled is more than tempting, you can however not force the bandwidth of two drives through a single connection. Simply not possible considering equal speeds of all connections.
Don't proclaim me as being an idiot. Thank you.
Wait a second! YOU first mentioned anything about hardware and software RAID, NOT ME! And it was also YOU who mentioned your whatever kind of gear Sans Digital box, which has clearly NOTHING to do with the topic of the Raidon Pro Drive!
Get your facts right and don't blame me on misleading the conversation!
Of course it is a good deal with the right drives in it. I NEVER said anything against that. With a pair of high end SSDs though, you'd lose about 50% speed.
Nothing to thank. And I will still stick to my statement, which you certainly did not understand.
The OP however clearly understood what I meant. But yeah, lets blame me, I honestly don't care.
Again, with appropriate drives, there's nothing wrong with the device, at least for speed concerns.
There are actually 2 Pro Drive products
The STARDOM PD2510 which is hardware RAID 1 & the PD2520 which is hardware RAID 0 with a USB 2.0 port & a FW 800 port so this unit can be pulled from a Mac Pro & used offsite.
Either product can be used with any Intel core Mac Pro machine.
Both products are STARDOM branded, RAIDON branded products are different & generally for PC use.
We discontinued the PD2500 as it was only RAID 0 & could only be used in older Mac Pro machines.
http://www.raidon-usa.com/stardom/pro_drive_feature.html
I believe at this point OWC is only purchasing the RAID 0 product. Should anyone want the PD2510 call OWC & request that unit.
Jonathan Schilling | VP of Sales & Marketing
RAIDON-USA Technology, Inc.
STARDOM Storage Solutions by RAIDON
Tel: 626-333-7888 X121
Any other questions, please feel free to contact me directly jon@raidon-usa.com
The STARDOM PD2510 which is hardware RAID 1 & the PD2520 which is hardware RAID 0 with a USB 2.0 port & a FW 800 port so this unit can be pulled from a Mac Pro & used offsite.
Either product can be used with any Intel core Mac Pro machine.
Both products are STARDOM branded, RAIDON branded products are different & generally for PC use.
We discontinued the PD2500 as it was only RAID 0 & could only be used in older Mac Pro machines.
http://www.raidon-usa.com/stardom/pro_drive_feature.html
I believe at this point OWC is only purchasing the RAID 0 product. Should anyone want the PD2510 call OWC & request that unit.
Jonathan Schilling | VP of Sales & Marketing
RAIDON-USA Technology, Inc.
STARDOM Storage Solutions by RAIDON
Tel: 626-333-7888 X121
Any other questions, please feel free to contact me directly jon@raidon-usa.com