I'm working on a FreeNAS server which has me thinking that I won't need a large drive on my main computer since most of the data will be on the server. I would however like to have a fast drive such as the new solid state drives - but they are rather expensive being fairly new technology. USB drives of 4 GB are now running under $10, four of these would be inexpensive and certainly provide enough for an XP install. I wondered what sort of transfer rates they might provide, and found this review; several are over 20 MB/sec:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/data-transfer-run,1037-10.html
Hard to believe the difference in random access time; some under 1 ms, and several even name brands well over 20 ms. Have to wonder if some of the drivers are caching the data so that it is not actually going to the stick?
Wonder if XP could do a software RAID across 4 or more of these and boot from them? Having fast access time and no mechanical latency should provide excellent performance.
Given the variation in performance I'm looking for more reviews, if anyone knows of a better one.
They would also obviously be excellent for a HTPC (working off a server of course) since there is no mechanical noise.
Pete B.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/data-transfer-run,1037-10.html
Hard to believe the difference in random access time; some under 1 ms, and several even name brands well over 20 ms. Have to wonder if some of the drivers are caching the data so that it is not actually going to the stick?
Wonder if XP could do a software RAID across 4 or more of these and boot from them? Having fast access time and no mechanical latency should provide excellent performance.
Given the variation in performance I'm looking for more reviews, if anyone knows of a better one.
They would also obviously be excellent for a HTPC (working off a server of course) since there is no mechanical noise.
Pete B.
Interesting review of a fast USB drive, however the 2 GB version has a reasonably low 2 mS latency, while the 4 GB version is 62 ms which is far too high for this application:
http://techgage.com/article/ocz_rally2_4gb_thumb_drive/
Another review of the Tubo 1100 version:
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/other_misc/OCZ_Rally2_Turbo/1008.htm
http://techgage.com/article/ocz_rally2_4gb_thumb_drive/
Another review of the Tubo 1100 version:
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/other_misc/OCZ_Rally2_Turbo/1008.htm
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From the research I've done you can't boot from a software raid array with Windows XP.
If you want cheap but slow use a USB stick.
If you want cheap and fair performance SSD go for compact flash via IDE or SATA adapter.
If you want cheapish and fast SSD go for a SDHC SATA raid adapter.
If you want cheap but slow use a USB stick.
If you want cheap and fair performance SSD go for compact flash via IDE or SATA adapter.
If you want cheapish and fast SSD go for a SDHC SATA raid adapter.
I think you're right about not booting from a software RAID.
Perhaps the pagefile and much of the rest of the OS files could go there - not sure. Good point, thanks.
Edit: Didn't realize that small SSD's were so reasonably priced, this one seems to
have good bandwidth - as advertised at least:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141419
This is roughly what I was looking for.
Perhaps the pagefile and much of the rest of the OS files could go there - not sure. Good point, thanks.
Edit: Didn't realize that small SSD's were so reasonably priced, this one seems to
have good bandwidth - as advertised at least:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141419
This is roughly what I was looking for.
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Yeah, that is reasonably well priced. At $85 it's probably worth using that(or similar priced SSD) instead of fiddling around with other solutions.
Agreed, completely. Reviews are mixed on this one, though specs look quite good for the price point.
Looking for reviews of SSD's. Tom's has this one, however the MemoRight is insanely ($3650 for 128 MB) expensive:
http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/mr35-2-128s-p-7366.html?ref=base
Good to see that all the SSD's tested here have very low access times:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-memoright,1926-6.html
http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/mr35-2-128s-p-7366.html?ref=base
Good to see that all the SSD's tested here have very low access times:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-memoright,1926-6.html
USB drives make for terrible Windows OS drives. Their random write performance is among the slowest of all kinds of drives (except CD-RW) and Windows needs to hit the disk very often (pretty much continuously, even if pagefile and System Restore are switched off).
It can boot quickly enough, but that's about it. It is possible to run XP off a single 4GB stick, FWIW, so $10 may be a worthwhile sacrifice to see how well it works out for you.
It can boot quickly enough, but that's about it. It is possible to run XP off a single 4GB stick, FWIW, so $10 may be a worthwhile sacrifice to see how well it works out for you.
The problem with USB drives is that they're usually made using the cheapest flash memory the manufacturer can get their hands on (bar a very small number of high-end USB sticks that use SLC memory), and I don't think their controllers are going to be any better than the worst MLC drives in the market.
Unless you use EWF (enhanced write filter). It should completely stop windows from writing to the disk.
Word of warning on this- I went that route for an older laptop using CF to IDE and the performance is horrid. It's still in that machine, but my memory on all the stuff I read up on is now fading. It was something to do with the way the BIOS detects and accesses the CF/adapter combo, where it bumps into some slow access mode and it's something you can't really change. Both machines I tried were older (a P3 and a P4), so I guess it's possible that newer rigs have resolved that, but look into it beforehand if you're considering it.
FWIW- The CF card had tolerable performance in a card reader, but as an IDE, it benchmarked way down, probably in the range of those really old, slow IDE drives. It can barely handle 44.1/16bit stereo work if there's any processing happening.
Take Care
Some BIOS firmware detects CF cards as removable media. It is sometimes possible to force it to detect as a normal hard drive. My friend had to do that for a pfSense router with an old 128MB card as a boot drive.
I mentioned in the first post that the plan would be to do a software RAID, which makes a lot of sense since the flash memory does not have rotational latency. However, there are some low cost high bandwidth SSD's that I had not noticed when I first posted and I plan to try one of those soon.
Thanks for the tip Star. I'm going to try it and I doubt if some of my older systems will boot from a CF card or USB stick. My plan is to use one of the lower cost SSD drives so it should not be an issue, but it still might be interesting to try it with a USB stick just out of curiosity.
I'm trying an Intel X25-V since they were out of stock of the lower cost PQI - this thing is FAST!:
Newegg.com - Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2R5 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD
I was thinking of large USB drives in a RAID config at the start of this thread, but with the SSD's coming down in price and their high bandwidth, it makes no sense.
Newegg.com - Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2R5 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD
I was thinking of large USB drives in a RAID config at the start of this thread, but with the SSD's coming down in price and their high bandwidth, it makes no sense.
As a boot drive I agree, but for a content drive, even cheap USB memory sticks may well be quick enough to serve audio content.
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