Defining RAID strip sizes on the A7V133...

[cbuchach]

I will be receiving an A7V133 in a few days and plan to put together a RAID 0 array with two 45 GB IBM HD's. When defining the array I want to be able to specify a 16 KB strip size. I know the Fastrack lite BIOS won't specifically allow for this, but I noticed when browsing through a manual I downloaded that when setting up the array, it asks to define the "Typical Application to use". The options for this are: A/V Editing, Desktop, and Server. Though I am not certain, I am assuming that this refers to strip size. Does anyone know what strip size each of the three options corresponds to? I am pretty sure that AV Editing will give a large strip size while Server will be smallest (i.e. lots of small file transfers), but I would like some concrete values so that I can properly format my HD with a corresponding cluster size.

Why I am concerned with this is that for the sole purpose of being able to define strip sizes, I was going to use a modified A7V133 BIOS which allows taking advantage of all the RAID features on the Fastrack . If the lite BIOS will alow defining a 16 KB strip through one of the Typical Application roles (I have a feeling Server will be closest to 16 KB), I won't have to go the modified BIOS route.

Oh yeah, one more question. Are there any programs (outside of the RAID BIOS) available that will allow one to measure strip size and other RAID characteristics?

Thanks for any help

 

[cbuchach]

bump...

 

[cbuchach]

Does anyone know what the strip sizes are??:Q

 

[JustStarting]

I've got a KT7 Raid and set my stripe size at 32kb. default was 64kb and tomshardware recommended 16kb- split the middle and went 32kb. Windows may have a hard time recognizing HDD > 64GB from my experience. You will probably need to partition in two sections < 64GB each. That is why I went with two 30GB Seagates. TomsHardware has a good article on setting stripe sizes- its an abit article but still applies to setting stripe sizes in windows.

 

[cbuchach]

Thanks for the reply. I know that 16 KB is supposed to be performance optimal, and really want to be able to set up my array as such. The problem is, is that the A7V133 doesn't allow for directly setting a strip size. What it does allow for is setting a &quot;Typical Application role&quot; the options being A/V, Desktop, or Server.

I have found info that &quot;Desktop&quot; sets to 64 KB strips. What I need to find out now is what the &quot;Server&quot; setting is. I am assuming either 32 KB or 16 KB. Does anyone know?

 

[cbuchach]

Here is one last bump. I will be setting her up tomorrow, so does anyone know what strip size server will set?