Raid configured right?

[Snafu]

I am not sure if my Raid is running as it should. Sandra bench gives it a meager 66MB/s. One of the benchmarks is same drives in Raid but it is at 144MB/s. I would like to at least reach the same spped as a Sandra benchmark.

The stripe was set at 64KB and I wonder if this is too large (my rig is mainly for gaming). Is there any way to change this without loosing the raid (and files?).

Gave Atto a try (thanks pointreyes!). Seems the drives fizzles above 32MB (file transfer size). Here are the read/write scores, transfer size and total length setting (Direct I/O - overlapped I/O):

1003MB/871MB @32MB transfer size and @256KB total length
(drops to 111/78 @64MB).

933MB/708MB @32MB transfer size and @1MB total length
(drops to 60/91 @64MB).

974MB/720MB @32MB transfer size and @4MB total length
(drops to 56/92 @64MB).

89MB/138MB @32MB transfer size and @16MB total length
(drops to 64/95 @64MB).

[Paragon]

Snafu, those scores do look a bit low for the Raptors...I'm certainly not trying to insult your intelligence, but a common error with Atto is not setting the total length to 32mb...Your screen should look like this:

[Paragon]

Also to answer part two of your question about stripe size: Even for a gaming rig I would not go with a stripe size less than 64 KB and if your playing games such as UT2004 where the file sizes are considerably larger I might even consider 128KB; the only way I know of changing stripe size without losing your data is to make an image of your drives with a product like Acronis True Image and then change the stripe size and copy the image back to the drives...Hope this helps:wave:

I forgot to ask, you did install Intel Application Accelerator?

[Snafu]

Thanks and no insult taken (the word "stupid" was not in the reply :lol: ).

I did not try 32MB simply because the drives did not seem to do well at the lower settings so I did not try higher. Using 32MB the results are better (not as much a drop off after 32MB). To me they still look low and peak at the 16MB to 32MB range. Puzzling :scratch: .

Transfer
Size Write Read
(kb) (kb/s) (kb/s)
0.5 15773 1812
1.0 31231 28237
2.0 59595 42967
4.0 89805 72228
8.0 98418 75286
16.0 104759 81251
32.0 103671 87071
64.0 98448 79701
128.0 94519 81049
256.0 97731 79324
512.0 95189 74935
1024.0 97731 71731
(cannot seem to get a decent screen shot to add)

Unfortuantely I had issues setting up the raid and brought the rig into a local shop and they set it up ( :o ). I am fairly certain they used Intel rather than Promise but bios still mentions promise ( :scratch: ). I cannot say for certain if they installed Intel Application Accelarator. How can I check that I am running Intel and this application?

I suspected changes to the raid would result in a loss of files. C'est la vie.

I do not have True Image but I do have Drivebackup3 and NTI Backup Now3 (possibly others floating around here somehwere on disk). Would you recommend True Image over the others or are they just as good (assuming of course you have used the others).

Thanks

[Paragon]

I didn't even think about the Promise, just assumed it was set up on the Intel RAID...If you look at your board there are four SATA connectors and the Intel will be the top two as you move from the PCI slots up towards the processor.

You can take a look at what's been installed...one sure way to find it is to go into the control panel and click on add/remove software and it will show you what's been installed.

You can also go into your BIOS on the second screen I believe and see if the Promise controller has been activated. The Intel ICH5-R is sometimes a good bit faster than the Promise RAID is.

BTW the new scores aren't that out of line :wave:

[Snafu]

Thanks. :thumb: Never thought to look at the board ( :bonk: :o ).

Yeah they are hooked up to the promise (lower connectors) :smash: . The promise raid management is also installed (not the Intel). One more thing for the to do list :lol: .

Thanks for the reassurance on the scores. The Sandra bench suggests the Raptors are running slower than they should :scratch: .

[Paragon]

Something else to consider Snafu if you change to Intel RAID, Acronis True Image is the only software currently that does a complete job of backing up RAID from the Intel ICH5-R. Some people have had fair luck with Norton Ghost (latest edition). I had problems with Ghost when I was running RAID on my P4C800-E and bought Acronis True Image and never had another issue backing up or restoring my RAID...Sorry to add so many negatives to your night my friend:wave:

[Snafu]

Thanks bud for the pointers. Acronis True Image it is!

No worries on the negatives. If I did not want to hear this answer I would not have asked. Good news or bad news at least I know what to do or will happen. It's cool :cool: .

My Raptors are running okay even on the promise and when I switch over to the Intel control I know what to use to back-up the raid. Always good to know. :thumb:

[pointreyes]

You can get Acronis True Image with 10% discount at ABXZone. :)
http://www.abxzone.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&file=viewreview&id=16

[Snafu]

Thanks for the link.
Having trouble viewing the site right now (maybe they are on the same servers as BE :lol: :rotflmao: ).

[Snafu]

Thanks for teh tip on the ABX discount (had to sign-up :shhh: but no plans to move off BE - better set-up).

Now I have to find another HDD. Hmmm.... :scratch:

Asus guide says you can run Raid 0+1 but the problem is they do not explain how. They tell you how to set-up Raid 0 and Raid 1 but nada on Raid 0+1 ( :smash: ). Also the board only has 2 pairs of raid connections (promise and Intel controllers) to make you wonder how a third drive is added :scratch: . Is it possible that the Raid 0+1 still remains 2 drives off one controller but you have to partition them to give you the third drive. If so then no goo for me until I can back up the Raid (yes - liven dangerously).

Am I better off not dreaming about raid 0+1 ( :bonk: ) and just add another SATA drive as a stand alone drive? Now if I could squeeze a little more out of my pocket maybe I should look at 2 Raid 0 arrays (wish the 74GB Raptors would come down a little :cry: ).

[dbwillis]

I ordered True Image finally....havent heard a bad thing about it..