{"id":255699,"date":"2018-04-17T12:55:54","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T10:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=255699"},"modified":"2018-04-17T12:57:07","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T10:57:07","slug":"how-raid-can-give-your-hard-drives-ssd-like-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/hardware\/255699-how-raid-can-give-your-hard-drives-ssd-like-performance.html","title":{"rendered":"How RAID can give your hard drives SSD-like performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Solid state drives are increasingly common among consumers PCs, with many new devices shipping with SSDs.<\/p>\n<p>The drives are far more expensive than mechanical hard drives, but offer superior read and write performance.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, they are used to store a user&#8217;s operating system, and files or programs which are commonly accessed.<\/p>\n<p>SSDs are not the only way to improve storage read and write speeds, however, and PC owners with several hard drives, and on a budget, can construct a RAID array instead.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">What is RAID<\/h3>\n<p>RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a technology which allows users to create an array of physical storage drives, improving redundancy, performance, or capacity.<\/p>\n<p>There are several RAID configurations, with a\u00a0brief summary of each RAID type or level below.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>RAID 0 &#8211; I<\/strong>ncreases performance by allowing read and writes to be performed concurrently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAID 1 &#8211; <\/strong>Data is mirrored on each drive, improving read performance and reliability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAID 3 &#8211; <\/strong>Spindle disk rotation is synchronised and each sequential byte is written to a different drive.<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAID 4 &#8211; <\/strong>Allows for more I\/O implementations using block striping with dedicated parity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAID 5 &#8211; <\/strong>Increased performance over RAID 4 due to distributed parity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>RAID 6 &#8211; <\/strong>Uses double-distributed parity to provide higher fault tolerance, and requires at least four drives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each RAID level has advantages and disadvantages, but for the purpose of this comparison we will look at the performance benefits of RAID 0.<\/p>\n<p>RAID 0 works by using data striping, which means consecutive segments of data are stored across different drives.<\/p>\n<p>This allows for the read and write speeds to increase each time a new drive is added to the array, but if a single drive fails, all data stored across the array is lost.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, it is important that you always back up the data stored on a RAID 0 array.<\/p>\n<p>For each drive added to the array, the overall capacity also increases by the storage capacity of the smallest drive.<\/p>\n<p>Setting up a RAID 0 system is relatively straightforward and will require you to purchase a RAID controller card, install drivers, and possibly change settings in your BIOS.<\/p>\n<p>RAID controller cards are available in a number of configurations, with a four-port variation priced at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wootware.co.za\/vantec-ugt-mst644r-2msata-2sat.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>R908.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/RAID-controller-card.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-255707\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/RAID-controller-card.jpg\" alt=\"RAID controller card\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/RAID-controller-card.jpg 640w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/RAID-controller-card-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/RAID-controller-card-595x400.jpg 595w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Performance<\/h3>\n<p>Performance gains when using mechanical hard drives in RAID 0 can be impressive, reaching read and write speeds almost comparable to SSDs.<\/p>\n<p>However, they are limited by a number of factors, including RAID controller throughput and processor speed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomshardware.com\/reviews\/RAID-SCALING-CHARTS,1635-10.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Tom&#8217;s Hardware conducted benchmarks<\/strong><\/a> measuring the performance scaling of a RAID 0 system, showing the increases in read and write speeds provided by an array.<\/p>\n<p>The results are in line with more <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.altoros.com\/raid-arrays-on-windows-azure.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>recent tests<\/strong><\/a> performed using the drives, provided by Microsoft&#8217;s Azure cloud platform.<\/p>\n<p>The benchmark results measured by Tom&#8217;s Hardware, using Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB 7,200RPM hard drives, are below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mybb_table\">\n<div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" style=\"width: 100%;\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"7\">\n<thead>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #003366; font-weight: bold; color: #fff;\">\n<th style=\"text-align: center;\" colspan=\"3\">Transfer Rates<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #003366; font-weight: bold; color: #fff;\">\n<th style=\"text-align: left;\">Drives<\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: left;\">Average Read Speed<\/th>\n<th style=\"text-align: left;\">Average Write Speed<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"40%\"><strong>2 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"30%\">152.9MB\/s<\/td>\n<td width=\"30%\">154.5MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>3 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>227.8MB\/s<\/td>\n<td>230.7MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>4 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>302.2MB\/s<\/td>\n<td>273.3MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>5 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>367.1MB\/s<\/td>\n<td>254.7MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>6 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>386.6MB\/s<\/td>\n<td>268.4MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>7 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>368.2MB\/s<\/td>\n<td>253.8MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>8 Drives<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>383.6MB\/s<\/td>\n<td>267.9MB\/s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the results, the sweet spot for RAID 0 performance rests at six drives, although this may vary based on the controller or specifications of the PC.<\/p>\n<p>The six 320GB drives in RAID 0 provide almost 2TB of storage with read and write speeds of 386.6MB\/s and 268.4MB\/s respectively.<\/p>\n<p>If one drive fails, however, the entire array is lost.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Hard-drive1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-130158\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Hard-drive1-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Hard drive\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Hard-drive1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Hard-drive1-250x166.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">SSD vs RAID 0<\/h3>\n<p>With transfer rates reaching close to 400MB\/s, a RAID 0 configuration boasts speeds closer to that of an SSD than a single mechanical disk.<\/p>\n<p>The RAID 0 configuration also has a much lower cost-per-gigabyte than a solid state drive.<\/p>\n<p>SSDs will almost always offer better performance, though, and a six-drive\u00a0RAID 0 array means six points of failure. A large SSD means one.<\/p>\n<p>As an example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The price of a 1TB 2.5-inch SSD is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wootware.co.za\/samsung-mz-75e1t0b-am-850-evo-1tb-sata-6gb-s-3d-v-nand-2-5-solid-state-drive.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>R4,699.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The price of six WD Blue 1TB hard drives is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wootware.co.za\/western-digital-wd10ezex-blue-1tb-7200rpm-sata-6gb-s-64mb-cache-3-5-inch-internal-hard-drive.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>R3,894<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0&#8211; excluding the cost of a controller.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The SSD will offer higher read and write speeds of 540MB\/s and 520MB\/s respectively, thanks to its NAND flash memory.<\/p>\n<p>However, the six-1TB RAID 0 array offers 6TB of storage and transfer rates which are over twice as fast as standard hard drives.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to go with a RAID 0 set-up or SSD ultimately comes down to price and speed, and how much of each you are willing to spend or sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p>The higher risk of storage failure with RAID 0 is another important factor to consider.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/hardware\/254999-western-digital-unveils-new-1tb-gaming-ssd.html\" rel=\"bookmark\">Western Digital unveils new 1TB gaming SSD<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PC owners with a number of hard drives can construct a RAID array.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":141376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3390,35,49951,11107],"class_list":["post-255699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","tag-hard-drive","tag-headline","tag-raid","tag-solid-state-drive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256113,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255699\/revisions\/256113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}