The OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 Preview: Second-Gen SandForce Goes PCIe

Features
By Andrew Ku
published

Solid-state tech marches on, and we're already approaching SATA's 6 Gb/s ceiling. OCZ is once again stepping in with a PCIe-based solution with speed in reserve. The company's RevoDrive 3 X2 promises sequential transfers in excess of 1 GB/s.

An Aside: Secure Erase? Firmware Update? It Can Be Done

Enthusiasts are all about control. For early adopters of the RevoDrive and RevoDrive X2, almost exclusively enthusiasts, the challenges of updating firmware and secure erasing are particularly frustrating. In many cases, secure erasing a drive is the only way to restore it to the original factory condition. And firmware updates are important in the same way that a motherboard BIOS upgrade can make or break a platform's usefulness. Sometimes those updates solve series issues. Other times they improve performance. In either case, you want the flexibility to do both.

The RevoDrive and RevoDrive X2 do support both capabilities. However, both processes can only be accomplished with a Live CD distro of Linux and a basic understanding of Unix commands.

In the case of secure erasing, you need to use the wipe command in terminal to erase each member of the striped array (two on the RevoDrive and four on the RevoDrive X2). If you're not Unix-savvy, the only other alternative is to use the GUI provided in Parted Magic. Of course, in order to do so, you should break the stripe prior to performing the procedure.

Unfortunately, there is no easy GUI option for updating a RevoDrive's firmware. The process is limited to terminal. But first, download OCZ's Linux Update Tool to your Live CD distro and find the device ID of each array member. The update process involves issuing the update command on each SSD array, sudo [fwupd location] /dev/sh? (replace ? for the drive ID).

The very good news is that OCZ makes secure erase and firmware updates much easier on the RevoDrive 3 X2. You only need to download OCZ's Toolbox tool. The drive pops up just like a familiar SATA-based SSD. And, since OCZ creates the equivalent of a unified stripe, there's only one logical drive to deal with.

Andrew Ku
37 Comments Comment from the forums
  • reyshan
    YoT!damn fast ssd and damn expensive ssd. might buy one 5 years from now(pci-e kind).
    Reply
  • KingArcher
    Wish I had won a lottery :)
    So that I could afford me some drives like these.
    Reply
  • Why_Me
    omg this drive is fast! But way out of my budget :(
    Reply
  • warmon6
    It's not a business-class product. It's for the power user who is able to tax it using the right workload. If you're not one of those folks, the RevoDrive 3 X2 is seriously overkill.

    OVERKILL?!?!
    Nothing is overkill in the computer arena in terms of performance. :p

    Just the price can be over kill. o.0
    Reply
  • julius 85
    Just the price can be over kill. o.0For me the price is a bottleneck :)
    Reply
  • ElectroGoofy
    Dear Santa...
    Reply
  • acku
    Santa is going to need a bigger expense account... :)

    Personally, I'm hoping that OCZ adds TRIM prior to September.

    Cheers,
    Andrew Ku
    TomsHardware.com
    Reply
  • chefboyeb
    Jesus!
    Reply
  • greenrider02
    I saw defense of the Vertex 3's occasional low numbers, but no mention of the solid (and sometimes better) performance that the cheaper and more miserly Crucial m4 showed throughout your tests.

    Perhaps you have some bias towards the Vertex 3 that needs reconsideration?

    Other than that, $700 seems like a fair price when considering the performace difference, especially if utilized properly, for instance as a high traffic web/corporate server
    Reply
  • acku
    greenrider02I saw defense of the Vertex 3's occasional low numbers, but no mention of the solid (and sometimes better) performance that the cheaper and more miserly Crucial m4 showed throughout your tests.Perhaps you have some bias towards the Vertex 3 that needs reconsideration?Other than that, $700 seems like a fair price when considering the performace difference, especially if utilized properly, for instance as a high traffic web/corporate server
    If you read the first page then you know that I give a nod to Vertex 3s as the fastest MLC based 2.5" SSD. I consider that plenty of love. :).

    We'll discuss the lower capacity m4s in another article. FYI, I suggest that you read page 5 and page 6. We are not testing FOB. We are testing steady state. That's part of the reason the SF-based drives are behaving differently with incompressible data.

    On your second point, this is in no way targeted toward an enterprise environment (that's what Z-drives are for). There is no redundancy in the array if a single SF controller fails. The whole card is a dud afterward. You can add higher level redundancy, but enterprise customers have so far been nervous on SandForce products. Plus, there's a general preference for hardware vs. software redundancy. (That's them talking not me). Overall, this makes it unacceptable for any enterprise class workload.




    Reply