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Adaptec 6405 Slow Write Speeds

Tronyx

n00b
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
5
Before I start I just want to say that I've done a TON of research on this and have tried everything that I can find, short of getting a different controller, to resolve the write speed issues that I am seeing.

Current Rig:

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K @4.3GHz - Cooled /w Corsair H60
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 780 XLR8 OC
Primary HDDs: 2x - Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB - Intel HardRAID 0
Secondary HDDs: 4x - WD Caviar Green 2TB
--Setup w/ Adaptec 6405 RAID Controller w/ Flash Module - Configured w/ RAID 5

So I have an Adaptec 6405 (yes I know, now, that they're immature and I SHOULD have gotten a 5 series) w/ 4 WD Green 2TB drives in a RAID 5 and the ZMM. I know a RAID 5 automatically means a performance drop, but the numbers that I'm seeing are WAY worse than I would expect.

First off, here's the controller config:

Code:
Controllers found: 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Controller information
----------------------------------------------------------------------
   Controller Status                        : Optimal
   Channel description                      : SAS/SATA
   Controller Model                         : Adaptec 6405
   Controller Serial Number                 : REMOVED
   Controller World Wide Name               : 50000D11073EEC00
   Controller Alarm                         : Enabled
   Physical Slot                            : 17
   Temperature                              : 30 C/ 86 F (Normal)
   Installed memory                         : 512 MB
   Global task priority                     : High
   Performance Mode                         : Default/Dynamic
   Host bus type                            : PCIe
   Host bus speed                           : 5000 MHz
   Host bus link width                      : 8 bit(s)/link(s)
   Stayawake period                         : Disabled
   Spinup limit internal drives             : 0
   Spinup limit external drives             : 0
   Defunct disk drive count                 : 0
   Logical devices/Failed/Degraded          : 1/0/0
   NCQ status                               : Enabled
   Statistics data collection mode          : Enabled
   --------------------------------------------------------
   RAID Properties
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Copyback                                 : Disabled
   Background consistency check             : Enabled
   Background consistency check period      : 30
   Automatic Failover                       : Enabled
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Controller Version Information
   --------------------------------------------------------
   BIOS                                     : 5.2-0 (19147)
   Firmware                                 : 5.2-0 (19147)
   Driver                                   : 7.4-0 (30850)
   Boot Flash                               : 5.2-0 (19147)
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Controller ZMM Information
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Status                                   : ZMM Optimal

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Logical device information
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Logical device number 0
   Logical device name                      : Storage
   Block Size of member drives              : 512 Bytes
   RAID level                               : 5
   Unique Identifier                        : CB6A85A9
   Status of logical device                 : Optimal
   Size                                     : 5713910 MB
   Parity space                             : 1904640 MB
   Stripe-unit size                         : 64 KB
   Read-cache setting                       : Enabled
   Read-cache status                        : On
   Write-cache setting                      : On when protected by battery/ZMM
   Write-cache status                       : On
   Partitioned                              : Yes
   Protected by Hot-Spare                   : No
   Bootable                                 : Yes
   Failed stripes                           : No
   Power settings                           : Disabled
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Logical device segment information
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Segment 0                                : Present (Controller:1,Connector:0,Device:0)      WD-WMAZA0782820
   Segment 1                                : Present (Controller:1,Connector:0,Device:1)      WD-WMC4M1979095
   Segment 2                                : Present (Controller:1,Connector:0,Device:2)      WD-WCAZA0188878
   Segment 3                                : Present (Controller:1,Connector:0,Device:3)      WD-WCAZA0121036


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Physical Device information
----------------------------------------------------------------------
      Device #0
         Device is a Hard drive
         State                              : Online
         Block Size                         : 512 Bytes
         Supported                          : Yes
         Transfer Speed                     : SATA 3.0 Gb/s
         Reported Channel,Device(T:L)       : 0,0(0:0)
         Reported Location                  : Connector 0, Device 0
         Vendor                             : WDC
         Model                              : WD20EARS-00MVWB0
         Firmware                           : 51.0AB51
         Serial number                      : WD-WMAZA0782820
         World-wide name                    : 50014EE655C19889
         Reserved Size                      : 3163160 KB
         Used Size                          : 1904640 MB
         Unused Size                        : 64 KB
         Total Size                         : 1907729 MB
         Write Cache                        : Disabled (write-through)
         FRU                                : None
         S.M.A.R.T.                         : No
         S.M.A.R.T. warnings                : 0
         Power State                        : Full rpm
         Supported Power States             : Full rpm,Powered off
         SSD                                : No
         NCQ status                         : Enabled
      Device #1
         Device is a Hard drive
         State                              : Online
         Block Size                         : 512 Bytes
         Supported                          : Yes
         Transfer Speed                     : SATA 6.0 Gb/s
         Reported Channel,Device(T:L)       : 0,1(1:0)
         Reported Location                  : Connector 0, Device 1
         Vendor                             : WDC
         Model                              : WD20EZRX-00D8PB0
         Firmware                           : 80.00A80
         Serial number                      : WD-WMC4M1979095
         World-wide name                    : 50014EE60409CA5C
         Reserved Size                      : 3163160 KB
         Used Size                          : 1904640 MB
         Unused Size                        : 64 KB
         Total Size                         : 1907729 MB
         Write Cache                        : Disabled (write-through)
         FRU                                : None
         S.M.A.R.T.                         : No
         S.M.A.R.T. warnings                : 0
         Power State                        : Full rpm
         Supported Power States             : Full rpm,Powered off
         SSD                                : No
         NCQ status                         : Enabled
      Device #2
         Device is a Hard drive
         State                              : Online
         Block Size                         : 512 Bytes
         Supported                          : Yes
         Transfer Speed                     : SATA 3.0 Gb/s
         Reported Channel,Device(T:L)       : 0,2(2:0)
         Reported Location                  : Connector 0, Device 2
         Vendor                             : WDC
         Model                              : WD20EARS-00MVWB0
         Firmware                           : 50.0AB50
         Serial number                      : WD-WCAZA0188878
         World-wide name                    : 50014EE204B32A85
         Reserved Size                      : 3163160 KB
         Used Size                          : 1904640 MB
         Unused Size                        : 64 KB
         Total Size                         : 1907729 MB
         Write Cache                        : Disabled (write-through)
         FRU                                : None
         S.M.A.R.T.                         : No
         S.M.A.R.T. warnings                : 0
         Power State                        : Full rpm
         Supported Power States             : Full rpm,Powered off
         SSD                                : No
         NCQ status                         : Enabled
      Device #3
         Device is a Hard drive
         State                              : Online
         Block Size                         : 512 Bytes
         Supported                          : Yes
         Transfer Speed                     : SATA 3.0 Gb/s
         Reported Channel,Device(T:L)       : 0,3(3:0)
         Reported Location                  : Connector 0, Device 3
         Vendor                             : WDC
         Model                              : WD20EARS-00MVWB0
         Firmware                           : 50.0AB50
         Serial number                      : WD-WCAZA0121036
         World-wide name                    : 50014EE25A085216
         Reserved Size                      : 3163160 KB
         Used Size                          : 1904640 MB
         Unused Size                        : 64 KB
         Total Size                         : 1907729 MB
         Write Cache                        : Disabled (write-through)
         FRU                                : None
         S.M.A.R.T.                         : No
         S.M.A.R.T. warnings                : 0
         Power State                        : Full rpm
         Supported Power States             : Full rpm,Powered off
         SSD                                : No
         NCQ status                         : Enabled



Command completed successfully.

Yes, 3 of the drives are 3 Gb/s and one is 6Gb/s, but that should not be causing any major problems. You can also see that individual write cache is off for all 4 disks and enabled for the Controller itself, which is one of the first things I had found regarding performance for this kind of a setup.

Here are some results from CrystalDisk:

500MB (should be instant as it has the 512MB flash, and w/ Windows it usually is, but this is showing really bad results)

Disk1.jpg


1000MB

Disk2.jpg


2000MB

Disk3.jpg


4000MB

Disk4.jpg


Occasionally, I'll see bad performance in general in Windows when navigating through the folders etc. where Explorer has to stop and think for a bit before loading the next folder and, when copying data, the green progress bar will usually pause for a moment before continuing to copy. This problem seems to be more apparent with data amounting to 5GB or more. Anything less than that seems to do exactly as you'd expect.

Sorry for the massive 'Wall'O'Text', but I thought the code section I used for the controller config would have automatically configured a scrollbar after X lines.

Any insight, short of insults, etc., is very welcomed at this point as I'm nearly tearing my hair out. If you need any additional info let me know and I'll provide it as quickly as I can.

TIA

--
Chris
 
My first guess at a culprit would be those WD Green drives. They are ill-suited to RAID arrays. At least, out of the box. They dynamically spin up and down and vary rotational speed and I'm not sure that can be disabled. Though, this thread over at another site, while at first seems to be discouraging, has an intriguing final post. . .

When you have used WD Green in RAID 5, did you disabled the parking/idling time vi WDIdle3.exe utlity? I have the same configuration running fine for 3 months under heavy usage.

Link: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/270386-32-caviar-green-drives-raid

I actually have a 6405 in a server I'm about to pull apart. Might be able to do some testing with it for comparison's sake. No promises though. Only if time allows. ;)
 
I've previously had nothing but great performance from them in software RAIDs and even a hardware RAID 0 that's currently in a Server of mine (though I know 0 and 5 are VERY different beasts) so I figured why not? Despite the months of digging I've NEVER stumbled across the post you linked from Tom's so I'm definitely going to check that out and give it a try.

I don't expect too much from anyone here as I know it's all based on free time, but the fact that you even gave trying it yourself a thought is very much appreciated.

I'll let you know what happens after trying out the solution from that post.

Thanks again.

--
Chris
 
Could be wrong (I'm far from an expert compared to some in this subforum), but I also wonder if you should really be disabling the cache on the drives themselves. Did you have the issue before you disabled the per-drive caches?

If they are spinning themselves down or varying their RPMs, I'd think the drives' cache would mask that somewhat. So if they were performing better under software RAID in your prior config, that may be why. Well, that and the RAID-5 write penalty of which you're well aware.

Good luck! Let us know how it all turns out and whether you have any luck with "WDidle3.exe"

--H
 
Could be wrong (I'm far from an expert compared to some in this subforum), but I also wonder if you should really be disabling the cache on the drives themselves. Did you have the issue before you disabled the per-drive caches?

The reason it is recommended to switch the individual disk cache off and have the controller cache on is for protection if there's a power outage. If you're transferring data the info in the disk cache will get lost (if you don't have a UPS) whereas the controller has the ZMM attached. With a 1200w PSU, a UPS to cover it is not cheap at all so I just have a 750w at the moment that at least allows the PC to sleep upon a power outage with no ill side effecrs.

Good luck! Let us know how it all turns out and whether you have any luck with "WDidle3.exe"

--H

I need to pull the drives out of the case, since they're attached to the controller DOS doesn't recognize them, but I'll be doing that shortly and post the results.

Thanks for your time and appreciate the advice.

--
Chris
 
Well, looks like two of the disks may be having some S.M.A.R.T. issues:

Code:
Read Error Rate rawValue="0"
Spin-Up Time in millisecs rawValue="4391"
Start/Stop Count  rawValue="366"
Reallocated Sectors Count rawValue="0"
Seek Error Rate rawValue="0"
Power-On Hours rawValue="3720"
Spin Retry Count rawValue="0"
Recalibration Retries rawValue="0"
Power Cycle Count rawValue="366"
Power-off Retract Count rawValue="365"
Load/Unload Cycle Count rawValue="3738"
Current Internal Temperature rawValue="29"
Reallocation Event Count rawValue="0"
Current Pending Sector Count rawValue="0"
Uncorrectable Sector Count rawValue="0"
UltraDMA CRC Error Count rawValue="87526"
Multi-Zone Error Rate rawValue="0"


Read Error Rate rawValue="364"
Spin-Up Time in millisecs rawValue="6325"
Start/Stop Count rawValue="436"
Reallocated Sectors Count rawValue="0"
Seek Error Rate rawValue="0"
Power-On Hours rawValue="18764"
Spin Retry Count rawValue="0"
Recalibration Retries rawValue="0"
Power Cycle Count rawValue="433"
Power-off Retract Count rawValue="419"
Load/Unload Cycle Count rawValue="440447"
Current Internal Temperature rawValue="30"
Reallocation Event Count rawValue="0"
Current Pending Sector Count rawValue="0"
Uncorrectable Sector Count rawValue="6"
UltraDMA CRC Error Count rawValue="0"
Multi-Zone Error Rate rawValue="272"

What's concerning is the 'UltraDMA CRC Error Count' for the first one and then the 'Multi-Zone Error Rate rawValue' and 'Uncorrectable Sector Count' for the 2nd one.

Any thoughts? Might it be a good idea to replace/RMA? I'm going to keep a close eye on them both now to see if/how frequently the numbers go up.

--
Chris
 
Ok, I put the drives in another machine, found the idle time was set to 8 seconds, and changed it to 300 as advised. Honestly, it looks like performance has gotten worse.

Here's another round of tests:

100MB

Disk5.jpg


500

Disk6.jpg


1000

Disk7.jpg


2000

Disk8.jpg


4000

Disk9.jpg


Another thing I noticed that's weird is the way that the disk writing fluctuates:

100MB

disk_fluctuation.jpg


8GB

disk_fluctuation2.jpg


The 100MB file is smooth whereas the 8GB file is constantly fluctuating and pausing during the write and, as stated previously, when copying in Windows the progress just literally pauses several times.

This is really starting to get to me.

I may just blow it away and use a RAID 0. I have a Server I use for a backup of everything that's on this array, but having this RAID 5 was more for peace of mind, but it's starting to look like the lack of performance is bothering me more than that.

Hopefully a RAID 0 will perform much better if I decide to go that route since it means a day of copying data.

--
Chris
 
Last edited:
Maybe the Greens are intentionally slow in this usage pattern. (write cache off, NCQ in heavy use)

Another possibility is the 4K/non-alignment performance penalty. Most enterprise drives continue to be 512b for some reason.

Maybe the errors you see are also stalling the array?
 
What's concerning is the 'UltraDMA CRC Error Count' for the first one and then the 'Multi-Zone Error Rate rawValue' and 'Uncorrectable Sector Count' for the 2nd one.

Any thoughts?

'UltraDMA CRC Error Count' means at some point the drive had problems communicating with the controller. This represents 87526 bad packets that were corrupted during transfer ( the drive will retry). Possible loose or bad cable.

'Uncorrectable Sector Count' means there are 6 sectors that the drive can't read that had data on them (meaning the drive lost data).


Both of these can cause a slowdown. For the first the slowdown would occur if the drive has to keep resending packets. For the second the slowdown comes from the firmware trying to recover the 6 lost sectors in the background although the firmware will probably do this when the drive is idle instead of in use.
 
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