RAID 5 performance

[SoNic67]

I want to share my experience with RAID 5 using 3 HDD, each 2TB in size.
I have used three different setups for this:
1. Using "Storage Space" software in Windows 10
2. Using the integrated Intel RAID on motherboard - software too, driver dependent
3. Using an older lsi 3ware 9650SE controller - hardware solution, based on a PowerPC PPC405 CPU and having 256MB of RAM as cache. It supports 64-bit LBA (volumes larger than 2TB).

The resulting volume being bigger than 2TB, it needs to use the GPT partition style.
After creation, I have copied the data from a 4TB drive (5400rpm, external, e-SATA) to this new RAID. Speed results:

1. 35 MB/s, the source drive was used at 12% of it's speed (task manager)
2. 45MB/s, the source drive was used at 18% of it's speed (task manager)
3. 165MB/s, the source drive was used at 100% of it's speed, RAID drive was written at a variable rate, hitting at times 250MB/s. This is achieved without write-back caching (the battery for the included backup is dead, so I can't use this safely).

I think that purchasing the 9650SE-12ML (12 ports) from eBay was a good decision. This specific one requires a free PCI-E x8 connector, luckily my MoBo has a free x8 one. There are models with less ports than need less PCI-E lanes (2 ports needs an x1; 4 and 8 ports need an x4).
The 3Ware drivers and the managing software (java, browser based) work fine on Windows 10 x64. After numerous buys (AMCC, MegaRAID), the software now is owned by Broadcom:
https://www.broadcom.com/support/download-search/?pg=Legacy+Products&pf=Legacy+RAID+Controllers&pn=3ware+9650SE-12ML&po=&pa=&dk=

 

[Ziggiesden]

Yes, I did something similar about eight years ago with my still running QX9750 (16MB DDR3 overclocked to 4.1GHZ and 1600FSB) on an Asus P5Q3 Deluxe it has a RocketRaid 640 and a SuperTrack EX8350.

The 640 has 3*2TB and an SSD on it.
The 8350 has a mix of drives as it supports different sizes and RAID6.

22.76 TB in a big CoolerMaster case - looks great

Speeds aren't as great as yours due to the old tech but I still use "The Beast" from time to time.

 

[RealBeast]

Yes, for RAID 5 a hardware controller is not only a faster solution, but it is far more stable and will not break every time that there is a bios hiccup.

It confirms that you get what you pay for.

 

[SoNic67]

Space can be an issue.
I have one SSD (boot/OS), three HDD for RAID storage, one big HDD as backup drive (5400rpm extracted from an external that had a dead controller), and a DVD-RW drive.

 

[Ziggiesden]

RAID 5 is definitely the way to go as one of my 8TB Seagate Barracudas, just this morning, gave the two beeps error message, parked its heads and is as dead as the proverbial Dodo. Luckily the data was backed up onto another drive just yesterday - just goes to show that you do get what you pay for. The drive in question was Manufactured on 10/05/2017 and ran for six months before dying. The reliability (and the speed) of RAID is a big plus as all my important data is on the RAID 6 array with odds and ends on the RAID 5. It just goes to show they do fail randomly and without warning too!

Funnily enough the EX8350 was bought in a shop in Tel-Aviv (via ebay) for £80 and the RocketRaid 640 from a guy off ebay for £50 who had bought it for his MAC not realising it was not compatible. I do like a bargain!

 

[RealBeast]

I'm still trying to run out of space on the NAS box I built a couple years ago 8 x 8TB He8 RAID 5 on an Adaptec 8805 (which is of course fully backed up on a cold storage NAS box). I did a number of storage systems for clients and was buying 20 count boxes of enterprise drives at some great prices at the time so I kept a number of them for me. (Although from Backblaze data the past few years the larger consumer drives are pretty impressive in terms of drive life).

I seem to always be giving my brother in law older smaller drives, 2TB/3TB as I seem to buy big drives every time I find a good sale or do a new client project. :lol: