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What do your hard disks score on xbench?

2x Samsung 1TB Spinpoints - Software RAID0

Just picked these drives up today due to one of my two RAID0 500 GB WD's failing. I've restored to the 1TB's via Time Machine and everything appears to be running great 🙂

Results 173.02
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.7 (9J61)
Physical RAM 6144 MB
Model MacPro3,1
Drive Type Macintosh HD
Disk Test 173.02
Sequential 209.51
Uncached Write 474.88 291.57 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 481.62 272.50 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 79.24 23.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 436.79 219.53 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 147.36
Uncached Write 59.29 6.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 846.92 271.13 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 191.83 1.36 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 257.43 47.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]


And just for fun, ran this on my mid 2007 Macbook:

Results 40.86
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.7 (9J61)
Physical RAM 1024 MB
Model MacBook2,1
Drive Type ST9120817AS
Disk Test 40.86
Sequential 82.68
Uncached Write 87.29 53.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 86.64 49.02 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 65.57 19.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 98.72 49.61 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 27.13
Uncached Write 8.99 0.95 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 79.99 25.61 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 69.92 0.50 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 107.29 19.91 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
The G4 in my sig. The drive is a 7200RPM PATA with 8MB cache on an ATA-133 card.

Results 48.75
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.7 (9J61)
Physical RAM 1536 MB
Model PowerMac3,4
Drive Type ATA Maxtor 6L120P0
Disk Test 76.79
Sequential 88.21
Uncached Write 82.14 50.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 82.68 46.78 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 90.00 26.34 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 100.32 50.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 67.99
Uncached Write 37.58 3.98 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 88.84 28.44 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 83.89 0.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 110.53 20.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
This is for 3 x velociraptor in Raid 0, stock controller.

Results 227.70
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.7 (9J61)
Physical RAM 16384 MB
Model MacPro4,1
Drive Type User
Disk Test 227.70
Sequential 269.35
Uncached Write 533.87 327.79 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 508.08 287.47 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 107.00 31.31 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 601.15 302.14 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 197.20
Uncached Write 111.15 11.77 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 510.74 163.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 194.28 1.38 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 239.11 44.37 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
The first one is my Hitachi 750GB internal storage drive. The second one is the 500GB Maxtor startup disk. Why does the Hitachi have such a problem with random uncached write with 4K blocks? I know it's normal to be terrible at 4K uncached read, but this Hitachi drive has an issue with the random write.



 
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB

WD Scorpio Blue 500GB

Disk Test 61.18
Sequential 99.59
Uncached Write 108.58 66.66 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 75.36 42.64 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 96.56 28.26 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 136.42 68.56 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 44.15
Uncached Write 16.36 1.73 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 131.88 42.22 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 71.45 0.51 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 126.45 23.46 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
STARDOM DECKRAID DR4
Mac Pro 2.8 8 core, 8G ram.
Via FireWire 800, RAID 5, 60MB/s
Via eSATA. 246MB/s

http://www.barefeats.com/hard122.html

STARDOM SOHO Tank ST 8 with High Point 4322 mini SAS, 736MB/s, RAID 5. Got the testing unit from RAIDON-USA
Sequential Read 590MB/S
Sequential Write 437MB/S
 

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nanofrog said:
Nice. 😀

What drives BTW?
Click to expand...
The STARDOM DECKRAID testing was using WD 2TB green drive 32MB.
I use hitachi 1TB 16MB with it's built-in RAID 5 via FireWire @ 60MB/S and sometimes I got over 70MB/s
Tried to transfer large file and seems getting faster speed.
Via its SJ20-X8 I got around 246MB/s
Reason I like this unit is it has bult-in RAID 5 for iMac, Macbook Pro.
 
joaoferro37 said:
The STARDOM DECKRAID testing was using WD 2TB green drive 32MB.
I use hitachi 1TB 16MB with it's built-in RAID 5 via FireWire @ 60MB/S and sometimes I got over 70MB/s
Tried to transfer large file and seems getting faster speed.
Via its SJ20-X8 I got around 246MB/s
Reason I like this unit is it has bult-in RAID 5 for iMac, Macbook Pro.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but all this is a bit difficult to interpret... 😕

How many drives of each kind were used in each of the Stardom tests?

4x 2TB WD Green in the Deckraid?
8x 1TB Hitachi in the Tank?
 
VirtualRain said:
I'm sorry but all this is a bit difficult to interpret... 😕

How many drives of each kind were used in each of the Stardom tests?

4x 2TB WD Green in the Deckraid?
8x 1TB Hitachi in the Tank?
Click to expand...

Yes, 4 2TB WD green on the stardom deckraid dr4.
8X hitachi 1TB on the stardom decktank dt-8
 
Whatever is in my imac is getting ~150s,

I am more interested in something tangential: My external HD is getting ready to die (the housing and FW controller as opposed to the actual disk) do you think I should should get an external enclosure for the SATA drive inside or should I just get a new external HD?

Also if I keep the disk and go with the external, should I get a raid enclosure (FW 800) or should I stick with FW400 and start daisy chaining drives. Its been a while since I've had to futz around with my data storage setup (non-mission critical stuff, just the normal backup, and occasional game)
 
Fiveos22 said:
Whatever is in my imac is getting ~150s,

I am more interested in something tangential: My external HD is getting ready to die (the housing and FW controller as opposed to the actual disk) do you think I should should get an external enclosure for the SATA drive inside or should I just get a new external HD?

Also if I keep the disk and go with the external, should I get a raid enclosure (FW 800) or should I stick with FW400 and start daisy chaining drives. Its been a while since I've had to futz around with my data storage setup (non-mission critical stuff, just the normal backup, and occasional game)
Click to expand...

The reason I use the stardom deckraid dr4 is it has built-in RAID 5 with quad interface. Perfect for iMac and any Mac laptops.
If you move to Mac Pro, you can still utilize the deckraid dr4 since it has eSATA. The speed thru eSATA is much faster than firewire 800 but it is not an option for iMac.
Besides, the FireWire RAID 1 solution, will take up 50% of the total capacity VS RAID 5 will use 1 drive for parity. Cost per Giga Byte and performance-wise, RAID 5 is a better choice.
 
joaoferro37 said:
STARDOM DECKRAID DR4
Mac Pro 2.8 8 core, 8G ram.
Via FireWire 800, RAID 5, 60MB/s
Via eSATA. 246MB/s
STARDOM SOHO Tank ST 8 with High Point 4322 mini SAS, 736MB/s, RAID 5. Got the testing unit from RAIDON-USA
Sequential Read 590MB/S
Sequential Write 437MB/S
Click to expand...

Interesrting results. I'm running a 4322 as well but with the WD 1 TB Blacks. (See posts #52 and #68) You're getting a little more throughput but your xbench numbers are lower across the board. What's you RAID setup???? Block size, stripe size, write and read chache policy, etc??? Also have you run some form of area scan to see what performance you get as the disk fills up???

hyram
 
RAID 5 stripe size 128K, block size 4K.
Write thru.
Using AJA system, I got much higher speed but the Xbench did not.
Regardless of the benchmark testing, I can capture and edit uncompressed HD footage without any problem.
 
One question to NanoFrog.
I've been testing the Seagate 1TB, 1.5TB drives using Stardom iTank quad interface enclosure. Under disk utility, it shows only 37G but when I swap out to Hitachi 1TB, it showed correct capacity?
I read some forum saying the seagate drives are problematic?
Can I solve the problem by firmware update or should I never use seagte?
 
joaoferro37 said:
One question to NanoFrog.
I've been testing the Seagate 1TB, 1.5TB drives using Stardom iTank quad interface enclosure. Under disk utility, it shows only 37G but when I swap out to Hitachi 1TB, it showed correct capacity?
I read some forum saying the seagate drives are problematic?
Can I solve the problem by firmware update or should I never use seagte?
Click to expand...
I'm assuming you're using the consumer models (7200.11 series), and Yes, they've had some problems. As I don't know the age, there's a good chance it is the firmware.

Assuming this is the case, you'd need to do a couple of things.
1. This is a bit of an assumption, but lets assume Seagate doesn't have a DOS image as part of the update untility, or that it works in OS X. So locate a DOS boot disk in order to update the firmware, or create one if you can. (This can be difficult on OS X only systems, as windows is usually needed to create the boot disk). A USB floppy can be used (no windows if you have one), and it makes life so much easier). This is just to get a boot disk made.

If you already have a DOS boot disk, you may not realize just how much ahead of the game you truly are. 😱 😛

2. Contact Seagate, and have them send you a link to the newest firmware revision.

Once you have both of these, you can flash the drive, and it should hopefully solve the problem.

Try this, and see what happens. 😉
 
nanofrog said:
I'm assuming you're using the consumer models (7200.11 series), and Yes, they've had some problems. As I don't know the age, there's a good chance it is the firmware.

Assuming this is the case, you'd need to do a couple of things.
1. This is a bit of an assumption, but lets assume Seagate doesn't have a DOS image as part of the update untility, or that it works in OS X. So locate a DOS boot disk in order to update the firmware, or create one if you can. (This can be difficult on OS X only systems, as windows is usually needed to create the boot disk). A USB floppy can be used (no windows if you have one), and it makes life so much easier). This is just to get a boot disk made.

If you already have a DOS boot disk, you may not realize just how much ahead of the game you truly are. 😱 😛

2. Contact Seagate, and have them send you a link to the newest firmware revision.

Once you have both of these, you can flash the drive, and it should hopefully solve the problem.

Try this, and see what happens. 😉
Click to expand...

Thank you!! AGAIN!!!! you are the man..
Besides, regarding to the Stardom Deckraid Dr4 benchmark test. Do you think this product is good for iMac user running Final Cut on it?
 
joaoferro37 said:
Thank you!! AGAIN!!!! you are the man..
Besides, regarding to the Stardom Deckraid Dr4 benchmark test. Do you think this product is good for iMac user running Final Cut on it?
Click to expand...
😎 No problem. 🙂

As per the Stardom Deckraid Dr4, I'm under the impression you want graphics/video editing work to reside on a system that can do 250MB/s, so it's close (as in bare min.). Personally, I prefer to plan for worst case, which means you'd want to keep the capacity at 50% or less, as exceeding it will slow you down. Assuming using a solution with additional drives isn't an option (existing hardware has this affect 😛), you need to plan for used capacity = 50% or less of the array capacity. So drive selection would be key IMO. 😉 😀
 
I am a consultant and most of my clients are graphic designers and film maker wanna be. Some of them are using iMac and they want to have RAID solution to protect their photos and footage. Burning DVDs is just painful and RAID 1 solution will lose 50% of the capacity and it is slow.

I tried to bring them CalDigit FireWire VR but this company is not as reliable as I thought. They phase out product too frequent and I got no support after that.

I am still testing the deckraid DR4 and so far I am happy with it. RAIDON sent me a loaner unit for testing the beauty of this item is it provides the missing capability of RAD 5 features for Mac mini and iMac.

WAIT!! why do people want to buy a iMac or Mac mini for graphic design!!!
 
joaoferro37 said:
I am a consultant and most of my clients are graphic designers and film maker wanna be. Some of them are using iMac and they want to have RAID solution to protect their photos and footage. Burning DVDs is just painful and RAID 1 solution will lose 50% of the capacity and it is slow.

I tried to bring them CalDigit FireWire VR but this company is not as reliable as I thought. They phase out product too frequent and I got no support after that.

I am still testing the deckraid DR4 and so far I am happy with it. RAIDON sent me a loaner unit for testing the beauty of this item is it provides the missing capability of RAD 5 features for Mac mini and iMac.

WAIT!! why do people want to buy a iMac or Mac mini for graphic design!!!
Click to expand...
I'm no fan of CalDigit's gear either due to a disaster with their RAID card. 🙄 😡

As for using a Mini or iMac, it does seem like a major contradiction. 😉
Perhaps limited budget (especially students), and they want to use Mac based software?
Hobby?
 
joaoferro37 said:
One question to NanoFrog.
I've been testing the Seagate 1TB, 1.5TB drives using Stardom iTank quad interface enclosure. Under disk utility, it shows only 37G but when I swap out to Hitachi 1TB, it showed correct capacity?
I read some forum saying the seagate drives are problematic?
Can I solve the problem by firmware update or should I never use seagte?
Click to expand...

I'd steer clear of the Seagate 7200.11 drives for RAID. Check out their forum; it's littered with the dead bodies of folks trying to get them to work... including mine 🙂 The drives have a habit of dropping out of the array. There has been no firmware update that will fix the problem either. The ES2 drives on the otherhand seem to be rock solid if you're willing to pay for them.

hyram
 
hyram said:
I'd steer clear of the Seagate 7200.11 drives for RAID. Check out their forum; it's littered with the dead bodies of folks trying to get them to work... including mine 🙂 The drives have a habit of dropping out of the array. There has been no firmware update that will fix the problem either. The ES2 drives on the otherhand seem to be rock solid if you're willing to pay for them.

hyram
Click to expand...
As a general rule, enterprise RAID drives should be used, as they're built for that purpose. 😉 They do tend to be far more stable, as the recovery settings in the drive firmware are different (7,0 rather than 0,0 used in consumer models). WD is the only make I've ever found the utility to adjust these values.

As it happens, the firmware issues with the Seagate's also affected the ES.2's as well (boot of death). 🙁 Though they are far more stable than their consumer counterparts.
 
nanofrog said:
As a general rule, enterprise RAID drives should be used, as they're built for that purpose. 😉 They do tend to be far more stable, as the recovery settings in the drive firmware are different (7,0 rather than 0,0 used in consumer models). WD is the only make I've ever found the utility to adjust these values.

As it happens, the firmware issues with the Seagate's also affected the ES.2's as well (boot of death). 🙁 Though they are far more stable than their consumer counterparts.
Click to expand...
I never have any issue with Hitachi and I always suggest my clients to get Hitachi. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
joaoferro37 said:
I never have any issue with Hitachi and I always suggest my clients to get Hitachi. Correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...
If you've never needed to deal with them for firmware, that's wonderful. 🙂 Unfortunately, I have, and was told bluntly they don't support firmware issues, and had to deal with the vendor. One specific occasion, happened to be CalDigit's HDElement enclosure, which was stuffed with 1TB consumer models (7K1000 IIRC). They couldn't deal with the drive firmware either, and didn't seem to have a clue how to go about working it out with Hitachi. (It was a typical consumer drive, and didn't have the proper recovery timings for RAID). Now I do place the bulk of the situation on CalDigit for poor drive selection, but Hitachi could have considered the end user's issues better, and used a better degree of tact.

I've run into similar situations with the Ultrastar line (enterprise models) needing the firmware revision to work with a specific RAID card (usually a SAS model). I was always directed to contact the controller manufacturer for the correct version. Why should they have it, as they didn't make the drive?

It would have been one thing had it been like CalDigit, where I was trying to use a consumer drive for enterprise use, but I had the correct line. So why did they feel the need to be such a PITA about giving me the right firmware revision?

This pissed me off something fierce, and I now refuse to use their drives, as firmware does come up from time to time (needs flashed, usually for a newer version that was verified as PASS by the card manufacturer). 😡 😡
 
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