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  • simple question RAID 0 or not with SSD's?

    I have two Falcon SSD 128 drives. Want to run them in RAID 0. Firmware is 1571 currently, these have never been run or installed. Questions:

    Should I flash to 1819?

    Will TRIM or Wiper work in RAID 0?

    Does the Garbage Collection feature work in RAID 0? (or at all?)

    I am running Windows 7 Ultimate. Am I just better served for now running these as single drives, no RAID 0, until support for TRIM in RAID 0 comes along (if ever)?

    Thanks for your input.

  • #2
    Don't know about GC on the falcon firmware but Trim is there. Running raid 0 you would need firmware with GC. But for me i don't need it. Still running the 1571 firmware in raid 0. If performance is degrading all i have BartPe on usb and run sanitary erase form OCZ and image back my OS

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by jimbearsfan1 View Post
      I have two Falcon SSD 128 drives. Want to run them in RAID 0. Firmware is 1571 currently, these have never been run or installed. Questions:

      Should I flash to 1819?
      Yes

      Originally posted by jimbearsfan1 View Post
      Will TRIM or Wiper work in RAID 0?
      No

      Originally posted by jimbearsfan1 View Post
      Does the Garbage Collection feature work in RAID 0? (or at all?)
      1819 incorporated garbage collection that works in Raid and non Raid which is why I suggest you flash to it.

      Originally posted by jimbearsfan1 View Post
      I am running Windows 7 Ultimate. Am I just better served for now running these as single drives, no RAID 0, until support for TRIM in RAID 0 comes along (if ever)?
      I have just purchased two 64GB Falcons and plan to run them in Raid. My decision was based on the fact that when I purchased my new PC I got a Kingston SSD (its only a mid performing SSD - cheap and nasty would probably be a bit harsh but I am sure you get the idea) as part of the machine, not for any increase in speed, but purely because they are much more reliable than moving disks. The speed increase was SHOCKING. Every person I demonstrated it to just could not believe how fast it made the machine. Having Windows boot in no time flat and applications open immediately is simply wonderful. Having experienced this type of thing you will never go back. I looked around to see if I could take it to the next level and happened on the Falcon which I thought had the best cost/performance ratio of the better performing SSD's. I went down to my local PC store and had a chat about upgrading. He said if you want crazy fast go Raid - its what he does. He has not noticed any performance degradation, but admitted he spends so much time at the store he does not use it a lot. I also researched it a bit on the internet and found that Raid does give a noticeable improvement in some circumstances with good drives like the Falcon and is what those who want the fastest possible disk performance use. That said, in most circumstances, it seems you wont notice any difference at all - it only shows up when doing intensive stuff like booting Windows or running a number of tasks concurrently that thrash the disk drive. If you don't want the ultimate windows start up time or run that many applications at once (and I must admit I don't do that much) then a single non Raid drive will be perfectly OK. However for me the increase in performance was simply so shocking I decided to go the whole hog and eliminate the disk drive as a bottleneck as much as possible. For me it a great feeling knowing it does not matter what I do my Raid setup will ensure disk performance is always snappy.

      The only issue I have with raid is I am not 100% sure how to activate the garbage collection. I have read where you need to put your computer into stage 1 sleep mode (or something like that) overnight to activate it. I have zero idea what that is. I have configured my Windows machine to not to hibernate (it is really annoying when you are doing a download or something and your machine slows right down) so I guess it means switching it back on an leaving it in hibernation more overnight - but I am not sure. I will be doing a post about it.

      Thanks
      Bill
      Last edited by bhobba; 01-18-2010, 03:06 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        I have just purchased two 64GB Falcons and plan to run them in Raid. My decision was based on the fact that when I purchased my new PC I got a Kingston SSD (its only a mid performing SSD - cheap and nasty would probably be a bit harsh but I am sure you get the idea) as part of the machine, not for any increase in speed, but purely because they are much more reliable than moving disks. The speed increase was SHOCKING. Every person I demonstrated it to just could not believe how fast it made the machine. Having Windows boot in no time flat and applications open immediately is simply wonderful. Having experienced this type of thing you will never go back. I looked around to see if I could take it to the next level and happened on the Falcon which I thought had the best cost/performance ratio of the better performing SSD's. I went down to my local PC store and had a chat about upgrading. He said if you want crazy fast go Raid - its what he does. He has not noticed any performance degradation, but admitted he spends so much time at the store he does not use it a lot. I also researched it a bit on the internet and found that Raid does give a noticeable improvement in some circumstances with good drives like the Falcon and is what those who want the fastest possible disk performance use. That said, in most circumstances, it seems you wont notice any difference at all - it only shows up when doing intensive stuff like booting Windows or running a number of tasks concurrently that thrash the disk drive. If you don't want the ultimate windows start up time or run that many applications at once (and I must admit I don't do that much) then a single non Raid drive will be perfectly OK. However for me the increase in performance was simply so shocking I decided to go the whole hog and eliminate the disk drive as a bottleneck as much as possible. For me it a great feeling knowing it does not matter what I do my Raid setup will ensure disk performance is always snappy.

        The only issue I have with raid is I am not 100% sure how to activate the garbage collection. I have read where you need to put your computer into stage 1 sleep mode (or something like that) overnight to activate it. I have zero idea what that is. I have configured my Windows machine to not to hibernate (it is really annoying when you are doing a download or something and your machine slows right down) so I guess it means switching it back on an leaving it in hibernation more overnight - but I am not sure. I will be doing a post about it.

        Thanks
        Bill
        Last edited by bhobba; Today at 03:06 PM.
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        Where did you read that Firmware 1819 is supporting GC using Raid 0. I was under the impression it did not, so I have not flashed my drives to the new firmware and left them with 1571. I just nuke the drives every couple of months and re image.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Griffyj View Post
          Where did you read that Firmware 1819 is supporting GC using Raid 0. I was under the impression it did not, so I have not flashed my drives to the new firmware and left them with 1571. I just nuke the drives every couple of months and re image.
          From here:
          http://gskill.us/forum/announcement.php?f=9

          I presume they lived up to their word. I even read a post somewhere of someone who even told a person with a Raid-0 how to activate it by leaving the computer in stage 1 hibernation mode overnight but did not quite understand it hence my question. I will try and dig that up as well and post it but it may take me a litte while.

          Thanks
          Bill

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by bhobba View Post
            I will try and dig that up as well and post it but it may take me a litte while.
            Check out:
            http://gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=1631

            'There is a lot of talk how your drive controllers drivers have to be able to pass the TRIM command. I believe if you have for example and Intel drive controller and you installed a driver for it instead of the Microsoft default driver in Windows 7 the Trim command will not work yet. For sure no Raid drivers for any driver controllers support TRIM yet. Supposedly Intel's TRIM supporting drive controller drivers for both RAID and non-raid are months away. Way to drop the ball Intel. Supposedly if you reformat a SSD with the 1819 firmware it will TRIM the drive.

            Assuming for whatever reason TRIM is having problems and your drive has been written to alot then garbage collection should fix it but you need to make sure your computer is only in S1 power saving support and leave your computer on overnight so the garbage collection can mark all the deleted space as deleted and refresh it. If your computer goes to sleep mode garbage mode doesn't kick in. Garbage collection runs slowly in the background with the v1819 firmware with garbage collection enabled when the drive is not being used.'

            Reading it again though (I was a bit bleary eyed when I read it last night) it looks like you must ensure the computer is not in sleep mode for garbage collection kick in (which is great for me because I don't use it). It is obviously referring to suupertalents drive because 1819 was not released for the Falcon when the post was done. However it would seem reasonable to assume Falcons is activated in a similar way. I suspect all these updates are basically the same except some companies like to tweak them a bit more or subject them to more rigorous testing than others before release. Indeed I have even heard you can flash other companies updates if you want. Its not something I would do but I have heard it can be done.

            Thanks
            Bill

            Comment


            • #7
              I have done a bit further research into this and what I now suspect to activate garbage collection you must leave your computer on. For portables in can be in power saving mode but but must be on. Your hard drive must not switch off when idle otherwise it will not work. To that end I have changed my hard drive to idle after 500 minutes (a little over 8 hours) which hopefully should run garbage collection overnight but turn it off if I accidentally leave it on when I am away for a few days.

              I hope this is correct but only time will tell. Hopefully someone a bit more knowledgeable about these things will chime in and and set the record straight.

              Thanks
              Bill

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