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SoftRAID? (The app)
- Thread starter Loa
- Start date
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Well diglloyd's site mentions it as a better, with some advantages. But I'm not familiar enough with RAIDs to know exactly what it entails...
Loa
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Lots of small things and he says that it can multithread the software RAID (implying that Apple's isn't).
More details on this short webpage:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-SoftRAID.html
Loa
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Thanks for the link!
If I comment on his article from my head-space:
Apple's "Disk Utility" doesn't typically crash at all - So my first assumption from the very first sentence is that he's selling something. The second sentence makes it obvious that he is if the 1st isn't enough. So our question is: Is what he's selling any good and how much is fudge factor or hype?
Hmmm... It looks like 99% fudge and hype to me. For example under his superior capabilities items:
"More intuitive display of volumes and drives; much easier to avoid mistakes!"
Umm OK... the little red pipes are pretty!
"Commands to create a startup CD or DVD;"
Already have this.
"Ability to blink the disk lights (helpful when you have 4/6/8/10 disks!);"
Already have this. But WHAT? Individual blinking lights?? LOL, What machine is he talking about?
"Notifications and system logging when disk events occur;"
Already have this.
"Can delete individual volumes without partitioning;"
WHAT??? A volume is a partition! Huh? If he means remove a volume without disrupting other partitions then of course. Apple same.
"Can convert RAID sets to its own format;"
OK... (?) Strange this would be listed under "superior capabilities" from Apple's RAID. Of course Apple's doesn't convert from SoftRAID and what other formats can SoftRAID convert from? It's not listed... I smell fudge. 😀 [indeed the softraid home page specifies Apple Disk Utility created RAIDs only.]
"Can delete volumes on a drive without affecting other volumes on the same drive."
We already have this too.
"And more!"
Like what?
"Multi-threaded"
I'm pretty sure by looking at the CPU activity that Apple's RAID is multi-threaded already but I guess I could be wrong. It's really hard to tell because even during heavy command intensive sessions the average CPU% is between 3 and 4 % across all cores and per core. And the program processing the results and initiating all those commands is likely to be the major culprit there.
"Faster and easier RAID set creation"
For Apple's Disk Utility it's near instantaneous and as easy as adding the volumes and selecting the type. How much "faster and easier" could it possibly be?
OK, The diglloyd article == epic fail! Visiting the site shows an advantage right off the bat:
"Runs on any Macintosh which uses OS X version 10.4 or higher."
So if you have an older non-intel mac you want to move the RAID set to you can. Not sure if Apple's does this but I suspect maybe not. This will and additionally will work through any controller.
Another downside is listed on the SoftRAID site as well:
"Allows you to create startup volumes with Mirror and non-RAID volumes."
This means no RAID0 Boot! 🙁
If I comment on his article from my head-space:
Apple's "Disk Utility" doesn't typically crash at all - So my first assumption from the very first sentence is that he's selling something. The second sentence makes it obvious that he is if the 1st isn't enough. So our question is: Is what he's selling any good and how much is fudge factor or hype?
Hmmm... It looks like 99% fudge and hype to me. For example under his superior capabilities items:
"More intuitive display of volumes and drives; much easier to avoid mistakes!"
Umm OK... the little red pipes are pretty!
"Commands to create a startup CD or DVD;"
Already have this.
"Ability to blink the disk lights (helpful when you have 4/6/8/10 disks!);"
Already have this. But WHAT? Individual blinking lights?? LOL, What machine is he talking about?
"Notifications and system logging when disk events occur;"
Already have this.
"Can delete individual volumes without partitioning;"
WHAT??? A volume is a partition! Huh? If he means remove a volume without disrupting other partitions then of course. Apple same.
"Can convert RAID sets to its own format;"
OK... (?) Strange this would be listed under "superior capabilities" from Apple's RAID. Of course Apple's doesn't convert from SoftRAID and what other formats can SoftRAID convert from? It's not listed... I smell fudge. 😀 [indeed the softraid home page specifies Apple Disk Utility created RAIDs only.]
"Can delete volumes on a drive without affecting other volumes on the same drive."
We already have this too.
"And more!"
Like what?
"Multi-threaded"
I'm pretty sure by looking at the CPU activity that Apple's RAID is multi-threaded already but I guess I could be wrong. It's really hard to tell because even during heavy command intensive sessions the average CPU% is between 3 and 4 % across all cores and per core. And the program processing the results and initiating all those commands is likely to be the major culprit there.
"Faster and easier RAID set creation"
For Apple's Disk Utility it's near instantaneous and as easy as adding the volumes and selecting the type. How much "faster and easier" could it possibly be?
OK, The diglloyd article == epic fail! Visiting the site shows an advantage right off the bat:
"Runs on any Macintosh which uses OS X version 10.4 or higher."
So if you have an older non-intel mac you want to move the RAID set to you can. Not sure if Apple's does this but I suspect maybe not. This will and additionally will work through any controller.
Another downside is listed on the SoftRAID site as well:
"Allows you to create startup volumes with Mirror and non-RAID volumes."
This means no RAID0 Boot! 🙁
Hahah, nice one! Thanks for that info. I'll stick with Apple's DU and see how it goes!
*taps foot until my drive get here...*
Loa
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Ti_Poussin
macrumors regular
From memory, sorry couldn't quickly find the comparative bench, but the software raid from Apple isn't bad at all, was doing a little worst but not that much compare to some hardware raid.
The only problem (not sure if they fixed it in the past few OS, I haven't need a RAID in quiet some time), is the boot drive shouldn't be on a RAID drive. You may want to check this back to ensure this is possible with the Apple RAID or the other software RAID.
Hardware RAID is always the best solution but cost more. I wouldn't use the other unless they can show some bench mark of the difference of there raid solution. Take into account the R/W speed and also the CPU usage for running those RAID. A RAID that would eat a lot of CPU to increase a little on the HD performance isn't that great, depends on your need.
The only problem (not sure if they fixed it in the past few OS, I haven't need a RAID in quiet some time), is the boot drive shouldn't be on a RAID drive. You may want to check this back to ensure this is possible with the Apple RAID or the other software RAID.
Hardware RAID is always the best solution but cost more. I wouldn't use the other unless they can show some bench mark of the difference of there raid solution. Take into account the R/W speed and also the CPU usage for running those RAID. A RAID that would eat a lot of CPU to increase a little on the HD performance isn't that great, depends on your need.
Many people here, myself included are running a Apple Software RAID 0 boot drive, there's no reason why you can't install Leopard on a RAID 0.
Tesselator
macrumors 601
I think he was talking about SoftRAID. It's a downloadable 3rd party product.
And yes as Andrew said it's possible in Apple's included RAID.
And yes as Andrew said it's possible in Apple's included RAID.