[hoth17]

the initialization takes up so much time in the boot sequence. Is there a way to do this?
would buying a raid controller help? if so which controller would be good for 4 x seagate 7200.12?

 

[Ictinike]

Not on the UD3P.

The later BIOS versions have made it speedier but what we've said in the past is just don't reboot as much

I know, I know.. but honestly it's only about 5-7 seconds for me in F7 BIOS w/ 2 drives in RAID0

 

[hoth17]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ictinike Not on the UD3P. The later BIOS versions have made it speedier but what we've said in the past is just don't reboot as much I know, I know.. but honestly it's only about 5-7 seconds for me in F7 BIOS w/ 2 drives in RAID0

if i don't reboot then whats the point of the faster hdd? lol its a loose loose

 

[Ictinike]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoth17 if i don't reboot then whats the point of the faster hdd? lol its a loose loose

? Faster hard drive?

RAID get's you faster access and seek times of the data on there. It doesn't make the drive spin any faster than the rated RPM's (7200, 10k, etc).

So the ~only~ speed increase you'll see is while the system is ON; so don't reboot, lol

But no, there isn't a way to speed it up unless you don't use the controller. I would check your BIOS version and see what rev level your at. Again, the F7 did increase the speed of this detection and I've not tested the new F8 BIOS released a bit of time ago.

 

[Zzyzx]

Just fold. Don't need to restart then.

You'd probably see better times with a RAID controller; the PERC 5/i option looks enticing.

 

[hoth17]

i realize that it's not literally a faster hdd, but that's what the os sees, so is say faster hdd.

how long do raid controllers take to initialize a raid. don't they have their own bios to load?

edit: i do fold, but if i do it 24/7 my dad gets upset with the energy bill. next year will be 24/7, let the college pay for the energy.

 

[Ictinike]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zzyzx Just fold. Don't need to restart then. You'd probably see better times with a RAID controller; the PERC 5/i option looks enticing.

Aye the PERC 5i's are nice controllers, from what I've read, and I hope to get one someday or similar but for simple RAID it's not worth the cost IMO.

If you only running a simple RAID setup such as a 2-4 disk RAID0 or RAID0+1 it's prolly easier on the integrated controller especially an Intel chipset.

Over that or if money is no concern then YES I would love to own one

 

[hoth17]

i may be running a 4 hdd raid 5. but if i get a controller i will only be able to afford 2 hdd's and a perc 5/i

so it would have to be a little less expensive. or at that point would it be a waste of money to get a dedicated controller?

 

[Ictinike]

Well the hard part would be biting the bullet on the controller. Once you have it, since you had already planned to have a 4 drive RAID5, then all you have to do is now wait until the funds present themselves for the remaining drives.

Win/Win in my book.. If you can wait for the extra drives the card now, for the entire array later, would be best IMO. If you'll stick with just the 2 drives and the perc/i then no, not worth it IMO.

 

[uberjon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zzyzx Just fold. Don't need to restart then. You'd probably see better times with a RAID controller; the PERC 5/i option looks enticing.

actually the perc 5/i is torture on bootup for me anyhow. the initialization part literally offsets the speed increase from "power to login" however for the first minute after login is much smoother than without the perc 5/i!

i do wonder, if it would initialize faster with a non redundant array, i.e. raid0?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ictinike Well the hard part would be biting the bullet on the controller. Once you have it, since you had already planned to have a 4 drive RAID5, then all you have to do is now wait until the funds present themselves for the remaining drives. Win/Win in my book.. If you can wait for the extra drives the card now, for the entire array later, would be best IMO. If you'll stick with just the 2 drives and the perc/i then no, not worth it IMO.

that is the bullet that should be bitten IMO

the perc 5/i is sweet IMO! and with the ability to rebuild the array (usually) without data loss means you wouldn't even have to reformat to add new drives/change raid

and think. seagate just announced their first sata3 device.. i bet the performance on platter drives will be minimal.. so wait for price drops!!! (on sata2)

then fill your array with 8 drives

 

[error10]

The more drives you have, the longer it will take to boot, since the RAID controller is spinning up the drives in sequence, rather than all at once.