topic Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0 in Archive

Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:39:19 GMT

So I am getting my second X-25M today and was thinking of putting my two into a Raid 0 setup. Will TRIM work if put in that setup? Does the new firmware make it work? I searched around a bit, but am confused if TRIM is supported at all in a Raid 0 setup.

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:48:55 GMT

As of now, you wont get TRIM working in any RAID configuration.

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:57:31 GMT

Thanks niemion... now to decide if I should still set it up in Raid 0 or have it as 2 separate drives

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:06:41 GMT

No problem. As we speak I'm testing 3 and 4 80's in RAID0, it's good, but the scaling using the fourth disk is ridiculous. Comparing to 3 disk RAID0 there's is a 5-10% penalty for adding the fourth.

I think two disks as you suggest would be the most sane choice. If you have the 2 drives already then I wouldn't hesitate to put them in R0. Sure you lose TRIM, and manually "trimming" (HDDErase 3.3 or 4.0) requires much more work, but to me it's easily worth it.

There are rumours that Intel is working on a driver that would allow TRIM when using RAID on their own controllers.

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

DZand — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:27:34 GMT

niemion schrieb:

There are rumours that Intel is working on a driver that would allow TRIM when using RAID on their own controllers.

Indeed, Intel's upcoming AHCI/RAID drivers do not belong anymore to the "Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager" (IMSM) generation.

The new storage drivers are part of the "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" (IRST) and obviously are optimized for being used with Intel SSD's under Windows 7.

At Station-Drivers you can already get WHQL certified IRST drivers v9.5.0.1037, which are running perfectly with my Intel ICH10R RAID0 system containing 2x160 GB Postville SSD's.

What I still don't know is, if these drivers do already support the Trim command.

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:03:29 GMT

Thanks guys for the answers. Can't wait to go home and install my SSD's in a raid setup... at least there is hope out there for official TRIM support on a RAID setup

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:51:59 GMT

i am debating your exact setup (2 160gb g2's in RAID 0) but i don't know if there are actual real world benefits for my setup. I'd love to hear your experiences. Not just benchmarks but actually using the computer and how the RAID 0 makes a difference.

I do some video, photo editing, and some desktop publishing. not to mention gaming. Problem is I store all my data on my caviar 2tb black drive so I'm not sure how the RAID 0 will really speed things up.

anyways, looking forward to hearing

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:16:44 GMT

Hey, i'm currently running two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0. Main reason why i like Raid 0 is because i dont like having split drives, like all my apps in the one drive.

Never knew trim wasnt supported in raid, but its hella fast. I've never ran a single setup but so i cant really compare it but my benchmarks show more than a double increase.

If raid doesnt support trim, what are the methods to do manual trimming and how often will it be needed to do?

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

DZand — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:33:51 GMT

dreborn schrieb:

anyways, looking forward to hearing

Hello dreborn,

I am very happy with my RAID0 system and do totally agree with LuI3: It's uncredible fast, especially if you handle with big sized files.

My benchmark results show read speed of more than 570 MB/sec and write speeds of 230 MB/sec. This is about 100% more than you will get by non-RAID SSD's.

Furthermore the risk of loosing data because of a mechanical damage is 0.

Regards

Fernando

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

DZand — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:40:45 GMT

LuI3 schrieb:

If raid doesnt support trim, what are the methods to do manual trimming and how often will it be needed to do?

It is only needed, when you realize, that your system's performance is down.

As long as there are no Trim supporting RAID drivers, I do it like this:

1. Backup the whole partitions of my RAID by using Acronis TrueImage.

2. Disable RAID within the BIOS

3. Erase all datas by using HDDErase (SafeErase).

4. Enable RAID again

5. Restore all partitions of my RAID by booting off the Acronis TrueImage CD.

Regards

Fernando

Re: Question about putting two X-25M 160gb in Raid 0

idata — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:41:23 GMT

thanks for the info, will do so when the time comes but i doubt it'll be for awhile

the reason why these ssd's are rated one of the best, if not the best is because of it's consistency

just for safe practice though i might do it at least twice a year, depending if performance drops fast, but i've had these for over a month or so and still going strong