Performance degradation on M4 RAID 0

[Fooshnik]

So it's been nearly three months since I put together my M4 RAID 0 system, and performance has dipped a bit. Since I have no chance of ever getting TRIM in RAID on a Z68 chipset, I'm wondering what needs to be done when the performance hits an unacceptable point to rebuild the system back to [nearly] fresh. Can I image the array, secure-wipe the drives and rebuild?

Here's the numbers. 6-10-12:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 1054.451 MB/s
Sequential Write : 223.458 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 665.402 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 96.421 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 25.273 MB/s [ 6170.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 90.466 MB/s [ 22086.4 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 423.384 MB/s [103365.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 119.409 MB/s [ 29152.6 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 32.0% (38.1/119.2 GB)] (x1)
Date : 2012/05/25 22:42:10
OS : Windows 7 [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)

8-26-12:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 994.382 MB/s
Sequential Write : 151.704 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 646.645 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 61.973 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 25.319 MB/s [ 6181.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 68.208 MB/s [ 16652.3 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 429.895 MB/s [104954.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 73.095 MB/s [ 17845.4 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 39.4% (47.0/119.2 GB)] (x1)
Date : 2012/08/27 21:05:44
OS : Windows 7 SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Reads have dropped a bit, but at 1GB/sec I'm obviously not too worried about that. The writes have dropped by a third though. This array has Windows on it but no swap file and honestly doesn't get too much use. Is there a way to get performance back to new without rebuilding the array?

 

[NoxTek]

Drop the array, perform a secure erase on each SSD (use a utility that actually sends the ATA 'SECURITY_ERASE' command to the drive), then re-create the array.

I suppose you could use your favorite disk image software to make an image of the array and then restore it after you perform the above procedure.

Interesting that the first test was performed on Windows 7 vanilla and the second was performed on an updated SP1....


What RST driver are you using?

I've had a RAID0 array of two M4 256GB for a few months now and haven't seen any signs of a drop in write speeds, and I'm using this thing 8 - 12 hours a day.

 

[Fooshnik]

The above tests were with 10.8. I installed 11.2 and this is what I get:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 957.604 MB/s
Sequential Write : 193.037 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 650.564 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 60.647 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 24.913 MB/s [ 6082.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 73.714 MB/s [ 17996.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 429.452 MB/s [104846.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 82.608 MB/s [ 20167.9 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 39.2% (46.7/119.2 GB)] (x1)
Date : 2012/08/29 17:58:27
OS : Windows 7 SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

A little better. I'll admit the performance drop isn't noticeable in daily use but I expect eventually it will be.

What write speeds are you getting? I always thought my write speeds were low but it could be because I'm using 64GB disks.

 

[NoxTek]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 857.380 MB/s
Sequential Write : 487.880 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 319.124 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 405.900 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 22.155 MB/s [ 5408.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 309.364 MB/s [ 75528.3 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 319.200 MB/s [ 77929.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 434.973 MB/s [106194.6 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 31.2% (148.9/476.8 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/08/30 0:22:15
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

This is with RST 11.5.2.1001 and OROM 11.5.0.1582 (updated from the original 10.x OROM that was in my Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 BIOS). Array consists of two Crucial M4 256GB SSDs for a total size of 512GB,

My read speeds have always been a bit lower than I thought they should be, but from day one they've been at around the same numbers as reported here. Write speeds may have gone down slightly from day one.

 

[SonDa5]

This is with RST 11.5.2.1001 and OROM 11.5.0.1582 (updated from the original 10.x OROM that was in my Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 BIOS). Array consists of two Crucial M4 256GB SSDs for a total size of 512GB,

My read speeds have always been a bit lower than I thought they should be, but from day one they've been at around the same numbers as reported here. Write speeds may have gone down slightly from day one.

Who were you quoting?