Various questions regarding SSD

[idata]

What is the best raid stripe size for the X25-E and X-25-M?

Will the existing line of Intel SSD's be compatible with Windows 7 TRIM command? If so when is this likely to happen?

If TRIM is going to be supported will it be supported via RAID?

Is there any update on the new 34nm SSD product line? When will specs be available?

Will the 34nm technology use the same controller or will it be a new controller?

EDIT:

I can now answer part of my own question. After extensive testing with IOmeter I have concluded that a 128k stripe size is going to work best for raid 0 in the vast majority of cases, and certainly for normal OS use. That is based on test results using two different controllers and stripe sizes ranging between 16k & 1042k. (Tests on one controller were limited to 256k due to limitations of the controller.) This involved a lot of work, for something that could easily have been explained.

Intel....

you are currently dealing with enthusiasts in your new SSD market, who are interested in the technology and want to know as much as possible about it. Why have the anonymous corporate attitude to your new and exciting product line? Why is there the party line of saying nothing about such an exciting product? (Even something as basic as letting people know they should be using AHCI and not IDE mode).MS seemed to have learnt that this is not the way to go with all the fantastic work they have done with Windows 7. Enthusiasts are raving about Windows 7 and that is going to really help Windows 7 launch to the mainstream with maximum impact.

Every now and then it is good to throw your (loyal) dog a bone 😉

/message/14887# 14887 Various questions regarding SSD

[idata]

Hi guys,

well i am new on the board, but like to join in.

Currently having 6 OCZ Core V1's on a Adaptec 5805 (yes with the horrible Jmicron controller), but thanks to the Adaptec the Raid0 works well.

Looking to buy 4 x X25-e to put in Raid 0, so looking here for extra info.

My thougts where that no mather what SSD right now, the controller always needs to erase 512 kb after your delete, so before writing to it.

The 128 kb block is maybe for the future, but not now i think. Even if Windows I7 will delete only 4kb or 128kb, the SSD will (for the moment) use 512kb. Windows cannot interfere with the hardware of the drive, right?

I was hoping that Intel would provide a TRIM program one can use, lets say once a week, but apparantly this is not so.

Difficult to buy right now and maybe shortly an improved product arrives.......

Jeff

[idata]

AFAIK the erase block size of the Intel drives is 128K. TRIM will most likely erase the same 128K block size. The only advantage is that TRIM will erase it when it is more convenient, i.e. not just before it is needed for a new write to occur on a "full" block.

My guess is that a single X25-E will outperform 6 V'1 in most applications straight off the mobo without 5805.

[idata]

Well, putting performance aside...the effective storage is also important....that's why I would prefer to use multiple X25-M instead of single X25-E which is usually not enough...you would end up having many X25-E.....so it's still more cost effective to go with an Adaptec RAID with many X25-M.

[idata]

no Redux,

well maybe without the 5805 (with Sun software, better then the original Adaptec), but with the 5805, you will not get better performance.

disks used for one year now, no trim possible or software upgrade. i post here my results of Cristaldisk, without doing any harm to Intel. Afterall who wants to buy V1's?

Cristaldisk: seq read = 1075, write = 823

512 kb = 485,5, write = 742,2

4kb = 43,12, write = 49,59

You will beat easily the 4kb, but not the rest.

Jeff

[idata]

Guess we will have to agree to disagree

The Core proved that throughput alone means next to nothing. Yes hard raid cache helps the situation but in the vast amount of real life applications the X25-e is simply in another league. I know because I've owned both and use the 5405. Try running cdm with a file size above the amount of cache on the raid card and this will soon become apparent.

Raid 0 offers little advantage in performance on most workstation applications and Adaptec cards actually double latency. The only real benefit (in workstation use) of raid 0 is the additional capacity it provides.