Addonics 5 Port HPM-XA RAID Controller - Performance Baseline - 1 x 250GB Native SATA

Performance Baseline - 1 x 250GB on SATA port 2

There are two things we’re looking at here.

Firstly, we need to understand the level of performance we get from a single data disk without the Addonics controller in place. Any extra hardware between the SATA controller and the disk will result in increased latency (the time to get to a piece of data) and potentially lower throughput (the amount of data that can be read or written in a given time period).

Secondly, this will give us the appropriate data to determine how much impact the Addonics controller has on latency and throughput.

The single disk is rated at 14 ms of latency (the time to move the head halfway across the disk surface and settle in place) and spins at 5400rpm for a rotational latency of 5.6 ms.

With that in mind, here’s ATTO’s perspective on performance of the single disk:

Note the gradual increase in performance up to its maximum of 64 MBps for read and 64 MBps for write. ATTO uses only the first 256MB of the disk for its tests, which has two implications:

1. Latency is markedly reduced because the head does not have far to move;
2. Throughput is increased because the outer edge of the disk passes under the disk head faster than the inner edge (and density of the data is unchanged).

HD Tach gives us a good overview of the sequential (in order) performance of the disk, as well as giving us the burst rate (maximum rate at which data can be retrieved from the disk drive cache).

The single disk performs surprisingly well for a disk that spins slower and is optimised for low power use. The smooth curve also means we shouldn’t have to worry too much about strange results being caused by the disk, only the controller. The burst rate of XX MBps is not a class leader, but it’s a good starting point. We also get a clear idea of the access times for reading data – XX ms on average.

HD Tune Pro lets us dive deeper into the performance characteristics across the whole disk. We see the blue line for throughput; each yellow dot represents the access time for a request to that location on the disk. Higher times are from “further away” across the disk surface – where the head has moved further to get to the right place.

HD Tune Pro also has the ability to test random access to the disk. Here we see the random access results.

We can calculate the minimum number of IOPS (Input/Output Per Second) that the disk can guarantee. Normally this is based on a 4KB or 8KB block of data. If we know it takes 50 ms to move the head to the right track, and for the right part of the disk to spin under the head, then the disk can only guarantee 20 operations every second. According to Seagate the total latency is 5.6 ms (spin) + 14 ms (seek):

IOPS = 1000 / (5.6 + 14) = 1000 / 19.6 = 51

So the disk drive can guarantee 51 IOPS - which does not preclude it from delivering 25% more than that in this particular test. The following table gives you some idea of what various types of disks can guarantee, performance-wise. Again, this is the minimum level of performance:

All of these are far outclassed by SSD:

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Comments (3)

• |134.134.139.xxx |2009-11-18 19:09:38 Mark  - Looks like just what I need, but...
  But you've got the links reversed. The "enclosure" link goes to the system version, and vice versa.
  
  Thanks for the great write up!
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• |70.114.239.xxx |2009-12-30 06:46:59 outcast2k  - product review gaps?
  good start on covering some of the basics. some other detais that would be good to know:
  
  1) how long does a RAID rebuild take?
  2) how do you tell how far a rebuild has left?
  3) how do you tell which disk failed?
  4) does the software UI handle 2+ HDM-XA's in the system?
  5) how do you recover the RAID if the HDM-XA itself has failed and needs to be replaced?
  6) what's the biggest sized drives supported? 2TB?
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• |219.90.134.xxx |2010-03-07 23:17:32 TERRABYTEONE  - ?? 3132 pciex1 card max output is 190mb/sec
  iv tested this.. etc..
  
  sil 3132 pci-e x1 card )(addtronics one) or jmb 363 or highpoint 4 port x1 2300 raid card.
  
  max oot put is 190mb sec total.. and if using 2 ports its 95mb/sec..
  
  
  tested this using 4x volir wd 300g hdd
  (they get each 109mb/sec)
  
  so if using both e-sata ports.. transfer maxes out at 190mb.sec..
  
  
  if using 4 hdd in raid 0 etc... max output for 4x vr 300 on intel on-board raid (x48 chipset) 500+mb/sec..
  
  on sil using this product is.. 90mb/sec.
  
  als tryed 4x 1.5 tb 7200.11 hdd..max out at 90mb/sec
  
  also tryed raid 5.. 90mb/sec.
  
  
  2tb hdd supported. but hardware or nonhardware raid the sil raid gear does not support partitions bigger than 2tb.(old design)
  
  to get 6 tb hdd spac out of in i raid 0 (4x 1.5tb)
  
  i hd to make 4 partitions .. the software is limited in what size to make. it..it was tricky.. i had to make partitin/volumns 2+ then delet and recreat smaller ones. in aparticular order.
  
  they need to update thar raid cards. (chan...
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