Yeah as storage it does not give you much space, but in a RAID-0 with two OCZ Vector SSD drives (or 840 Pros) it would scream. It would potentially (maybe) saturate the USB 3.0 bandwidth in terms of MB/s read/write ability. That config would be good for an OS.
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USB 3.0 Speed?
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Yeah as storage it does not give you much space, but in a RAID-0 with two OCZ Vector SSD drives (or 840 Pros) it would scream. It would potentially (maybe) saturate the USB 3.0 bandwidth in terms of MB/s read/write ability. That config would be good for an OS.
They suggest it has 5400 drives in it though? Meaning it may not come as a 'Drive-free' model
Correct. Doesn't stop you from swapping, but there is no bare kit in their line up.
How about this one? Looks similar to caldigit mini:
http://oyendigital.com/firewire-800-usb-3.0-portable-RAID.html
http://oyendigital.com/firewire-800-usb-3.0-portable-RAID.html
They do have newer USB 3.0 models, I use a Guardian configured for fault tolerance not speed.
Looks like the very same case & trays with different face and back. Likely different internals, but they sell bare for 99. Very Interesting.
If I cared about RAID on the road, it might temp me.
I handled one of the earlier models from Cal & they are much smaller than they look in the pictures.
Yeah, anyone knows what the retail price is going to be for the caldigit mini vr2. Since I believe they won't sell without drives it will probably be way more expensive.
I have a guardian with USB 3.0 but that is for 3.5" drives. I think the poster was looking for 2.5". Please correct me then but aren't the 2.5" guardian maximus and OWC RAID enclosures only USB 2.0?
I just received the MiniPro from the link below. Put my two Intel SSDs (G2) in RAID0, and ran speed tested (w/ USB 3.0):
read: 162.9 MB/s
write: 205.8 MB/s
I was kind of expecting more considering these are SSDs and RAID0. Would you guys agree? so I am not sure it's just a not-so-great controller.
When configured in RAID1 (instead of RAID0), I get:
read: 89.9 MB/s
write: 206.9 MB/s
I guess what I'd like to do next is to put one of the drives in a single disk usb3.0 enclosure and compare?
read: 162.9 MB/s
write: 205.8 MB/s
I was kind of expecting more considering these are SSDs and RAID0. Would you guys agree? so I am not sure it's just a not-so-great controller.
When configured in RAID1 (instead of RAID0), I get:
read: 89.9 MB/s
write: 206.9 MB/s
I guess what I'd like to do next is to put one of the drives in a single disk usb3.0 enclosure and compare?
I get into the mid 200s at least on RAID 0 with two 7200rpm drives on USB 3.0 on a GUardian Maximus Pro Dual (the large one not the mini). I also get the same running an OWC Mercury Elite enclosure in eSata through t-bolt. Even a straight non- raid seagate 7200 drive gets 150MB/s r/w.
See my post a few above on the jpegs.
So I hate to say it but the controller does seem slow. And very slow when you consider you have SSDs.
Are your SSDs identical?
Also I have never RAIDed SSDS. I know you can do it, but they do work differently to HDDs. Maybe a forum member has comment on that.
It definitely does sound like the speed is bottle necking at the controller.
A stab in the dark, but you could try another USB cable if you have one.
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yes the SSDs are identical
It has a 946 oxford chipset which has a good rep. Even my GMAX and OWC have that chip set. BUT I think the 946 part is not the USB 3.0 controller. The 946 is the Firewire/esata controler from memory. The USB controller is a second chipset controller I believe.
Anyway, that doesn't help.
I think you need to call Oyen
It has a 946 oxford chipset which has a good rep. Even my GMAX and OWC have that chip set. BUT I think the 946 part is not the USB 3.0 controller. The 946 is the Firewire/esata controler from memory. The USB controller is a second chipset controller I believe.
Anyway, that doesn't help.
I think you need to call Oyen
I removed one of the SSDs and put it on a single-drive USB3.0 enclosure and got the following:
read: 102.7 MB/s
write: 176.2 MB/s
The other drive reported the same speeds when standalone in this enclosure. Are these reasonable? The thing is this enclosure is also from Oyen, so I guess it could be the same USB controller.
Just for quick reference, I am including below the RAID0 numbers again:
read: 162.9 MB/s
write: 205.8 MB/s
I have a Envoy 3.0 enclosure housing a single OEM MacBook Air drive that shows 215 write, 258 MBps reads (blackmagic benchmark) with my rMBP. Yours is definitely slow.
It has a 946 oxford chipset which has a good rep. Even my GMAX and OWC have that chip set. BUT I think the 946 part is not the USB 3.0 controller. The 946 is the Firewire/esata controler from memory. The USB controller is a second chipset controller I believe.
Anyway, that doesn't help.
I think you need to call Oyen
The second chipset (the SATA -> USB one) in their RAID enclosure in an Oxford 3100, which only supports SATA II.
I've been looking over the Oyen MiniPro series of enclosures carefully, and it appears that getting Firewire with your enclosure is a limiting factor, because the USB chipset included with all of the Firewire-compatible packages only supports SATA II. The only models with pure USB 3.0/SATA III use the ASMedia 1053e controller, and they are the USB 3.0 only enclosure and the USB 3.0/eSATA enclosure.
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I found this article very helpful in explaining why USB 3.0 often does not produce the speeds we expect. UASP is explained.
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Thanks. Good info. Have you researched the VRmini2? Looks like it supports firewire too, so it may have the same limitation you are referring to (SATAII)
I've looked at it, and in the past have bought a CalDigit product. They are a bit less forthcoming with their specs in general, because they offer a "complete solution" rather than just an enclosure. If you try to swap out disks in their products, you will find little roadblocks like atypical hardware (torx security screws rather than plain torx or phillips), and a sticker over at least one of the screws that says "warranty void if removed".
I haven't dug any further into the VRmini2 because I have no intention of buying it.
I don't think (could be wrong) that there's anything preventing someone from having a SATA III capable chipset in with a Firewire-capable enclosure. Perhaps there is a design limitation there somewhere.
I've also read somewhere that SSD's are not the best choice for RAID on the basis of performance alone, as they perform better standalone. I'll have to try and find that article.
Thanks. Other than the Oyen and Caldigit, have you run into any other mini RAID enclosure? I kind of like their form factor. One other issue I am seeing with the Oyen is that it can't be powered by Apple's thunderbolt-to-firewire adapter (as you know rMBPs don't have a firewire port), so that limits it to AC only.
SSDs that use compression to gain speed and capacity don't do well behind a RAID. There are SSDs that do very well behind raids, however.
That's one view. Perhaps they tend to protect the device by vetting the drives and trying to control the quality from that end. I asked at one point and the answer made sense from their perspective.
I recently got a EVO SSD and was able to transfer my HD to it in about 60 minutes. THis was approx 275GB worth of data that was transferred via USB3 - I feel like it was too fast and I might have missed something. Has anyone else been able to do this or is it fairly common? I was expecting it to take several hours from what I had read.
That's sounds about right, maybe even a little slow !!
I have an EVO 500gb in the Inateck UASP USB3.0 case and copied a 10gb
file in just over 20 seconds !!
It's read /write speeds are around 350-370 MB/s
M.
That transfer size and time gets you a data rate of 78 MB/s, which is an expected speed with USB 3.0 and a speed a 500 GB 2.5" S-ATA HDD can deliver. Nothing wrong there.