Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000: Two Terabyte RAID Redux
by Gary Key on April 23, 2007 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
PCMark05 Performance
We are utilizing the HDD test suite within PCMark05 for further comparative hard disk scores as it provides a mixture of actual application results and specific read/write percentages utilized within these programs. The program utilizes the RankDisk application within the Intel IPEAK SPT suite of tools to record a trace of disk activity during usage of real world applications. The HDD test suite contains 53% read and 47% write operations with each trace section utilizing varied amounts of read or write operations. Further details on the PCMark05 HDD tests can be found in our previous articles in this series.
Our PCMark05 RAID 0 results show a 43% improvement over the single Hitachi drive results. Our previous test bed showed a 25% improvement with the RAID 0 setup. The 7K1000 combination scores better 3% in RAID 0 and 4% better in single drive testing than the WD 150GB Raptor setup. In previous testing the differences were withing a half percent between the two drives. We ran the test several times and also changed motherboards but had the same results with an Intel chipset.
The major performance delta between the 7K1000 single and RAID 0 configuration is in the Windows Startup, Anti-Virus, and File Write tests. We fully expected the File Write tests to show major improvements as this is an area where RAID 0 performance usually shines. We see minor differences occurring in the Application Loading test where read speeds are critical in a variety of applications. However, our General Usage test is showing a 28% improvement in a test that balances both read and write speeds. This indicates the strength of a RAID 0 setup in applications such as media encoding that can benefit from the improved speeds.
The Raptor's superior rotational/access speeds allow it to basically score slightly better than the 7K1000 except in the Virus Scan and Windows startup tests. Overall, if you need to greatly improve your PCMark05 benchmark scores then RAID 0 will certainly do that for you. In the Application results which utilize actual applications there is minimal impact but the General Usage result indicates a 25% improvement. The question still remains if these improvement percentages will correlate to improvements in actual applications.
We are utilizing the HDD test suite within PCMark05 for further comparative hard disk scores as it provides a mixture of actual application results and specific read/write percentages utilized within these programs. The program utilizes the RankDisk application within the Intel IPEAK SPT suite of tools to record a trace of disk activity during usage of real world applications. The HDD test suite contains 53% read and 47% write operations with each trace section utilizing varied amounts of read or write operations. Further details on the PCMark05 HDD tests can be found in our previous articles in this series.
Our PCMark05 RAID 0 results show a 43% improvement over the single Hitachi drive results. Our previous test bed showed a 25% improvement with the RAID 0 setup. The 7K1000 combination scores better 3% in RAID 0 and 4% better in single drive testing than the WD 150GB Raptor setup. In previous testing the differences were withing a half percent between the two drives. We ran the test several times and also changed motherboards but had the same results with an Intel chipset.
The major performance delta between the 7K1000 single and RAID 0 configuration is in the Windows Startup, Anti-Virus, and File Write tests. We fully expected the File Write tests to show major improvements as this is an area where RAID 0 performance usually shines. We see minor differences occurring in the Application Loading test where read speeds are critical in a variety of applications. However, our General Usage test is showing a 28% improvement in a test that balances both read and write speeds. This indicates the strength of a RAID 0 setup in applications such as media encoding that can benefit from the improved speeds.
The Raptor's superior rotational/access speeds allow it to basically score slightly better than the 7K1000 except in the Virus Scan and Windows startup tests. Overall, if you need to greatly improve your PCMark05 benchmark scores then RAID 0 will certainly do that for you. In the Application results which utilize actual applications there is minimal impact but the General Usage result indicates a 25% improvement. The question still remains if these improvement percentages will correlate to improvements in actual applications.
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Abki - Friday, May 22, 2009 - link
RAID 0 only give faster transafer rate of data from/to disk.It dosent give anything else faster even if you want it. If time for get or put data to disk dosent matter you have to buy a cheaper disk instead. Why weaste money on raptor or Deskstar.
About raid 1, it isnt so good and safe. Accidents has happen with 2 disk system, 1 get failure and raid system transfer same fault to the other disk. In the end its no data on any disk that is usuable. The only tru safe is to have a backup of all data. Sould be taken at least every day. That is what the second disc should be used for and not RAD 1.
Axbattler - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
I do believe that the main cost of stripping is the risk of failure. For everything though, you get what you pay for: the second drive, and the space associated with having a second drive. It is no harder to backup 2TB in RAID-0 than 2TB of individual drives, if you are going to have that much data, then it is an issue you are going to face anyway. So to me, it comes down to trading off risk of failure, and selected performance gains. I happen to think it is not worth it but I do think it is a matter of opinion (more of a 'to each their own' type of thing).michal1980 - Monday, April 23, 2007 - link
any one? I know its an extra drive. but you get some data protection, and some performance benefit, and you do not loss 50% of the drive space.but I heard bad things about on-board raid 5.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
I don't believe you lose any drive space in RAID 0, as there is no data redundancy.yyrkoon - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
The bad things you've heard concerning onboard RAID5 was probably performance related, which would most likely be true, since most onboard RAID would not have a good XOR 'engine', unless perhaps some of the server classed boards have them.As for Matrix RAID, I personally am a bit sceptical, from my limited understanding of it, it basically gives you the ability to do a RAID 0+1 array on two drives. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
tshen83 - Monday, April 23, 2007 - link
I thought last time I already criticized that reviewing the 1TB drive with RAID 0 performance is missing the point, yet you come up with a redux part on the same drive. First of all, I don't care how much Hitachi is paying YOU or AT to pimp this drive(obviously they paid the wrong guy). If you don't understand that comparing a 1TB drive against the raptors are STUPID, you should get your head checked. One is targetted at the MASS STORAGE people(you know, I should spell it out for you, the guys who want 4TB +) and the raptor is targetted at the people as a PERFORMANCE OS boot drive. COMPARING THOSE TWO DRIVES ARE STUPID!now, if you really need a triple redux on this stupid drive, you should cover power usage, noise, heat, and basically constantly read/write to the 1TB drive to see how long the deathstar will last.
sdsdv10 - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
The title says it all...Sunrise089 - Monday, April 23, 2007 - link
Personal Attack: CheckTotally unsupported claim of bias: Check
Misunderstanding of market segments: Check
Use of ALL CAPS: Check
Improper understanding of "are/is": Check
Comment that makes you look like an ass: Check
tshen83 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
I will be honest:you are right about those: Personal Attach: Check and Use of ALL CAPS: Check
you are wrong about the following:
totally unsupported claim of bias? about what? about Hitachi drives being deathstars? Did you read that Hitachi bought the IBM deathstar hard drive business?
Improper understanding of "are/is"...ok...typo..so what? Try typing the whole message in 20 seconds.....you is stupid :)
comment that makes me look like an ass? So do you consider all criticisms make people look like ass?
Misunderstanding of Market Segment: Really? Is it me who misunderstood? The whole point I made is that Anandtech shouldn't review the 1TB drive against the raptors because the difference in market segment. 1TB isn't about performance. It's about mass storage. Mass storage drives needs different measurements: reliability(MTBF), RAID 1/5/6 performance, heat, noise, power consumption. OS performance drives(raptors) need those benchmarks: IO, Seek, Sustained write/read, etc. you get the point. Firmwares are tweaked differently for those two opposing sides.
I agree with the poster below you, Don't read the review: Check! To be honest, Anandtech hasn't come out with anything good for a while.(except that AppleTV review)
yyrkoon - Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - link
LMAOYou forget one thing on your check list.
Dont read the article ? CHECK !!!