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Resolved Soft RAID in Win 7 and Hardware RAID...

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by Steve_S, 2009/12/13.

  1. 2009/12/13
    Steve_S

    Steve_S Inactive Thread Starter

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    Please note that my System Specs doesn't have enough room for all this information

    I have been testing RAID 0 (striped disks) via the "soft" RAID which Win 7 provides. I'm not seeing any speed improvements so I need the RAID geeks to help me. :) In my informal tests all I get is about 100MB/s and thats not going to do it. I'm trying to create the fastest "disk" for rendering movies and yes I understand the inherint dangers of RAID Arie :)

    The 2 drives I'm using for RAID 0 are identical: WD 1TB 32MB cache 7200 RPM green drives. Both of these drives reside in my NAS which is a dandy SansDigital 5 bay enclosure which is slick. All the drives in this NAS are hooked up to my desktop via a StarTech 2 Port eSATA PCI-E card. I have another card from SansDigital but it uses soft raid and is PCIe 1x. They indicate I need to upgrade to the real deal RAID card which provides PCIe 4x or PCI-X.

    Before I use my funds for a dedicated RAID card It would be nice to know:

    1. What kind of improvements/speed increase can win 7 soft RAID 0 provide and how is yours set up? What improvements do you get?

    2. Does the soft RAID in win 7 ever issue a disk failure warning if I decide to deploy RAID 5 or RAID 10 like the hardware cards do?

    3. Anyone using any of the HighPoint RAID cards under win 7 and could share your thoughts.

    Thanks in advance and Seasons Best wishes to ALL in case I forget.
     
    Last edited: 2009/12/13
    Steve_S,
    #1
  2. 2009/12/14
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    I would never advise anyone to use soft(ware) RAID, it is pretty useless (as you found out).

    I can't give you much advise on HW RAID. I for one am running RAID0, but I also run with 15,000RPM SAS drives. I use my motherboards HW RAID, which is provided by a Marvell 88SE6320 SAS controller.
     
    Arie,
    #2


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  4. 2009/12/14
    Steve_S

    Steve_S Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks Arie. Anyone using the HighPoint RocketRAID 2314 or similar card? Iv'e seen "claims" of 250MB/s for RAID 0 with this card BUT that just might be a bunch of sales hype?

    :)
     
    Steve_S,
    #3
  5. 2009/12/14
    Steve_S

    Steve_S Inactive Thread Starter

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    I found some reviews and Benchmarks on the HighPoint 2314 so I bit the bullet and made NewEgg happy. I will mark this thread as Resolved and post in a few days about my findings. :)
     
    Steve_S,
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  6. 2009/12/14
    Athlonite

    Athlonite Inactive

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    first off your trying to use power saving HDD's for work that requires max speed which you'll never get out of a green drive the WD black drives are much better suited to this purpose,
    and before you go buying that rocket raid card send an email enquirey to highpoint and ask them what sort of perfomance your likly to see with the setup you have as i bet it'd be nowhere near the 250MBps your quoting with two green drives more like 150~175max read with maybe 90~120MBps write speed and the seak time will also be alot slower due to a variable spindle speed 5400~7200rpm
     
    Athlonite,
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  7. 2009/12/14
    Athlonite

    Athlonite Inactive

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    oh and just a random reminder you'll be needing a new PSU very soon too as you'll be very quickly cooking that 475W one of yours.. the recomended minimum PSU wattage for your setup is no less than a 600W
     
    Athlonite,
    #6
  8. 2009/12/15
    Steve_S

    Steve_S Inactive Thread Starter

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    Athlonite, Great advice. I had not considered my PSU. I do have a couple of faster 1TB/2TB drives but I better do some more research.

    Thanks again.
     
    Steve_S,
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  9. 2009/12/15
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Well, a 550W supply will do fine for his setup... with room to grow. Have a look at eXtreme Power Supply Calculator.

    For his system I get to 405W (selected high-end desktop MB, ATI HD 4670, 4 sticks DDR3 & 4 USB devices, 3 high-speed SATA drives, 30% capacitor aging). Adding a SATA RAID card added 13W.


    My current system calculates to 560W, I ran it with a 520W PSU without problem for 3 months (at tat time was running it minus some HW, so it calculated @ 509W).
     
    Arie,
    #8
  10. 2009/12/15
    Steve_S

    Steve_S Inactive Thread Starter

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    Come to Vegas...

    I'm inviting BOTH of you hardware geeks to Vegas. Why? 20 minutes from my home is GEEK heaven called Frys :)

    Honest, they must every PSU in stock on the face of the planet. You guys could spend days in the place. Great return policy for those parts you prefer to buy in person rather than on-line.

    How about a recomendation on a Brand of PSU? The last little one I did was a Antec which is fine but I need quality and a quiet fan? It's tricky because the HP box uses snap in rails so I will measure and probably buy 2 different ones and return one after I determine if it fits.

    BTW, Neat calculator.
     
    Steve_S,
    #9
  11. 2009/12/15
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    After doing my research last spring, I decided on a Corsair PSU.
     
    Arie,
    #10
  12. 2009/12/15
    Athlonite

    Athlonite Inactive

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    Athlonite,
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  13. 2009/12/15
    Admin.

    Admin. Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Sorry, but that's crazy... bordering on insane!

    Asus wants to tell me I need a minimum PSU of 700W :(

    No, eXtreme Power Supply Calculator is much better & more trusted around the 'Net.
     
    Admin.,
    #12
  14. 2009/12/16
    Steve_S

    Steve_S Inactive Thread Starter

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    Surprise...

    Back at the ranch I opened my case:

    I have a 350 Watt PSU!

    YIKES...I'm surprised I haven't fried the thing alread since I replaced/installed 2 internall WD fast black drives and the eSATA card.

    This will certainly be an educational experience for me and is reason enough for me to build my next rig myself!

    Check out this tight fit and note the 2 "tabs" aka stopers.

    http://www.premierpanamaproperty.com/power_supply_1.html

    I also see they have a modular Ultra line PSU where you only plug in the cables you need which might be better for my clumsy hands and the tight install. The box already runs very cool and very quiet but I think ? it might help cooling a little.

    Stay tuned for operation "shoehorn" :)
     
    Last edited: 2009/12/16
    Steve_S,
    #13
  15. 2009/12/16
    Athlonite

    Athlonite Inactive

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    i was going to ask about that as according to HP website the model you have only came with an 350W psu. Putting in a new PSU isn't that hard a job and yes modular cables are great i use them in my system saves on trying to find a place to stuff all the unused ones lol
     
    Last edited: 2009/12/16
    Athlonite,
    #14

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