Flash drives in RAID

[biostud]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38203


would it be possible to hook up these up in a RAID configuration?

Running a couple of these in RAID 0 should be quite fast

 

[MichaelD]

Your question has a multi-tiered answer.

"Possible, period?" Sure. A drive is a drive...as long as the operating system recognizes these types of devices as "drives."

Possible to boot from/use for data storage an array of these drives?

Well, that depends on the motherboards chipset manuf and how they've programmed the BIOS. I.E. some modern motherboards can boot from a USB flash drive, some can't.

A drive is a drive...as dictated by the motherboard, the BIOS and the operating system.

 

[SuperNaruto]

They should, its got native sata connectors

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6466

 

[Rubycon]

RAID, particularly arrays with striped pairs, are for increase of STR. Typically flash based devices are tuned for access time (no wonder!) not STR. So in the applications requiring the best STR it would still be better to use mechanical hard drives.

Besides, what's going to make the noises when they're accessed? Call me old fashioned, but I like to hear the computer crunching. I can see it now - they'll have sound modules to strap to the disk activity connector to simulate the sound of disk access. Much like ricers buy a device that mimics the sound of a blowoff valve.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
RAID, particularly arrays with striped pairs, are for increase of STR. Typically flash based devices are tuned for access time (no wonder!) not STR. So in the applications requiring the best STR it would still be better to use mechanical hard drives.

Besides, what's going to make the noises when they're accessed? Call me old fashioned, but I like to hear the computer crunching. I can see it now - they'll have sound modules to strap to the disk activity connector to simulate the sound of disk access. Much like ricers buy a device that mimics the sound of a blowoff valve.

Do you play a recording of the dial-up handshake when you open your web browser?

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Do you play a recording of the dial-up handshake when you open your web browser?

No I just whistle at 300 bps.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Do you play a recording of the dial-up handshake when you open your web browser?

No I just whistle at 300 bps.

LOL


Back on topic:
I'd figure this thread would be more popular. I know I can't wait for flash based hard drives to be mainstream, and I'd imagine many around here feel the same way.

Hopefully the reviewers will try the drives in RAID to see the amount of benefit gained.

 

[MrPickins]

Maybe the title should be "Solid State Drives in RAID"

"Flash drive" just sounds like a usb stick.

 

[Billb2]

A flash drive running at the speed of light isn't going to speed up your computer as much as a 2% overclock... unless you're benching SuperPi1K

As for RAIDing them...

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: Billb2
A flash drive running at the speed of light isn't going to speed up your computer as much as a 2% overclock... unless you're benching SuperPi1K

As for RAIDing them...

Hard drives are the main bottleneck of your computer's storage system. How could increased speed not equal improved performance?

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: Billb2
A flash drive running at the speed of light isn't going to speed up your computer as much as a 2% overclock... unless you're benching SuperPi1K

As for RAIDing them...

Hard drives are the main bottleneck of your computer's storage system. How could increased speed not equal improved performance?

Maybe that person runs a renderfarm or something but the rest of us are bogged down mainly by our hard drives, especially on laptops. SSD's for laptops would be a tremendous improvement for overall computer speed in day to day tasks. The hard drive speed is one of the main reasons I don't use my laptop (5400 rpm toshiba) as much as a my tower (dual raptors).

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: Billb2
A flash drive running at the speed of light isn't going to speed up your computer as much as a 2% overclock... unless you're benching SuperPi1K

As for RAIDing them...

Hard drives are the main bottleneck of your computer's storage system. How could increased speed not equal improved performance?

Moving from a slow 5400 rpm IDE drive to RAIDed Raptors tou will see no where near the overall improvement you will see with a 2% overclock. While some activities (boot up?)are drive dependant, most are not. And no, memory, CPU speed, and Video are the main bottleneck of computer systems, storage systems contribute little to overall computer speed.

 

[Glenn]

Originally posted by: Billb2

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: Billb2
A flash drive running at the speed of light isn't going to speed up your computer as much as a 2% overclock... unless you're benching SuperPi1K

As for RAIDing them...

Hard drives are the main bottleneck of your computer's storage system. How could increased speed not equal improved performance?

Moving from a slow 5400 rpm IDE drive to RAIDed Raptors tou will see no where near the overall improvement you will see with a 2% overclock. While some activities (boot up?)are drive dependant, most are not. And no, memory, CPU speed, and Video are the main bottleneck of computer systems, storage systems contribute little to overall computer speed.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I couldn't disagree with you more! If you're surfing the net or running cpu or video benchmarks your statement is correct, but when doing anything that access's the hardrive (games, office docs, copying files, ripping etc...) the total performance of the system is for sure, the main bottleneck in my system, and yours too!

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: Billb2

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: Billb2
A flash drive running at the speed of light isn't going to speed up your computer as much as a 2% overclock... unless you're benching SuperPi1K

As for RAIDing them...

Hard drives are the main bottleneck of your computer's storage system. How could increased speed not equal improved performance?

Moving from a slow 5400 rpm IDE drive to RAIDed Raptors tou will see no where near the overall improvement you will see with a 2% overclock. While some activities (boot up?)are drive dependant, most are not. And no, memory, CPU speed, and Video are the main bottleneck of computer systems, storage systems contribute little to overall computer speed.

When I encode and move video I often wish for faster sustained reads, when playing mmo games I wish I had faster random access, during boot I wish I had both.

All of these scenarios, which I encounter close to daily, are examples of where HDD speed is the limiting factor in my computer's performance.

Are you trying to see how far you can stick your foot in your mouth?