Windows 7 and ssd drives

[Xhani]

Hello,
I just bought 2 OCZ Colossus Series SATA II 256Gb 3.5" SSD. One that was installed on an ASUS 775 mb gave a score of 7.1 on the Windows Experience Index and the other one installed on a Gigabyte P55 gave a score of 6.9 (both computers have Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit). Then I decided to inlude both drives as Raid 0 array in the Gigabyte p55a-ud5 hoping to improve the performance however now I only get a disappoing score of 5.9! Can anyone kindly advise what went wrong and suggest any solutions?

 

[sub mesa]

Please test with real benchmarks.

Download HDTune Pro (evaluation) and post some screenshots of the normal benchmark, filesystem benchmark and random access benchmark.

Also, what kind of RAID-engine you use? Intel i assume?

 

[Xhani]

U'r rite sub mesa. I d/l hdtune pro. I don't have the benchmarks with me right now (am using the computer at work) but after testing the hard disk with hdtune pro WEI jumped from 5.9 to 7.2! Maybe Windows7 needed an interpreter.
Thanks again. I know that these are just numbers but it makes me feel better after spending so much money on 2 OCZ Colossus Series SATA II 256Gb 3.5" SSDs. However, even with an WEI 5.9 I had noticed that Photoshop CS4 takes less than 2 seconds to start!

 

[sub mesa]

Well windows uses only very short tests to determine that mark; it doesn't really mean anything important. You can't reduce storage-performance to a single mark. Too many variables. So it could also fluctuate alot; real benchmarks will tell you alot more.

I would like to see the benchmarks though; could you post them here?
You can post three benchmarks:
- normal surface scan
- filesystem benchmark
- random access benchmark

That will tell something about the performance of your SSDs. You can upload images to the web on sites like http://imageshack.us

 

[Scotteq]

OP - You do understand that RAID does not support the TRIM command?

 

[Xhani]

Hi again Sub Messa. Here are some of benchmarks I get from HD Tune Pro 4.01:
Read (Block Size 8 MB)
Transfer rate - Minimum 197.6 MB/s, Maximum 354.7 MB/s, Average 223.0 MB/s
Access Time: 0.2 ms
Burst Rate: 149.1 MB/s
CPU Usage: -1.0%
Random Access:
512 bytes - 5659 IOPS - 0.18 ms - 2.764 MB/s
4 KB - 3656 IOPS - 0.27 ms - 14.281 MB/s
64 KB - 1634 IOPS - 0.61 ms - 102.180 MB/s
1 MB - 209 IOPS - 4.8 ms - 209.401 MB/s
Randon - 373 IOPS - 2.7 ms - 189.321 MB/s

I have saved the images as .pdf file unfortunately http://imageshack.us does not acceptit.

 

[Xhani]

OP - You do understand that RAID does not support the TRIM command?

Would I be better off if I use only one drive and use the other one for my other computer? I've seen quite a few people posting higher benchmarks arranging 2 or 3 or for SSDs as Raid 0.

 

[Xhani]

!!! Zirbmonkey, I had already posted the benchmarks. Seems you have given your advice with help from WEI!

 

[Xhani]

Best answer selected by Xhani.

 

[Xhani]

Well windows uses only very short tests to determine that mark; it doesn't really mean anything important. You can't reduce storage-performance to a single mark. Too many variables. So it could also fluctuate alot; real benchmarks will tell you alot more.

I would like to see the benchmarks though; could you post them here?
You can post three benchmarks:
- normal surface scan
- filesystem benchmark
- random access benchmark

That will tell something about the performance of your SSDs. You can upload images to the web on sites like http://imageshack.us

Here's the link of my image:
http://yfrog.com/56oczsddbenchmarksj
Thanks again.

 

[sub mesa]

That is only the normal benchmark. If possible you should also run the File Benchmark and random access benchmark. That will tell us much more about your performance.

 

[Xhani]

Here are the links including one for WEI:

File benchmark:
http://yfrog.com/0bfilebenchmarkj
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1464/filebenchmark.jpg


Random Access Benchmark:
http://yfrog.com/jtrandomaccessbenchmarkpsvj
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/58/randomaccessbenchmarkpsv.jpg


WEI:
http://yfrog.com/9hweijj
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7688/weij.jpg