Solved Cornfused

[HammerHead]

I used Atto to test a OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G, which is Sata II. I'll post snips of three different test configs and the adverstised specs. When I look at it I am undecided for some reason wheter the disk is preforming up to specs. How about some comment?

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The disk was in an external Sata dock. (Sata cable)

 

[HammerHead]

Disk

Someone, is this disk any good?

 

[essenbe]

Just off the top of my head, it does not look right. The overlapped I/O pattern looks good although it is far short of the rated speed. But, the other 2 tests do not look right at all to me. have you checked the alignment and are you in AHCI mode?

 

[HammerHead]

Alignment

I'll double check the alignment today. The rig is booting into raid config but I have no raid arrays assigned.

 

[Hopalong X]

Possible the external SATA "Dock" is a bottle neck.

USB or e-SATA Dock?

Also unless you ran the "SATA" cable inside the case direct it is plugged into an e-Sata port on the case.
The onboard e-Sata has its own controller seperate from the internal SATA ports.
Possibly slower than internal SATA

So please explain what dock you are using and where does the dock cable plug into the motherboard.
This would help greatly.

 

[HammerHead]

Dock

It's a Kingwin EZDock ESatat or USB. I am using a external sata cable plugged in to an external sata port on the MoBo.

 

[HammerHead]

Alignment

I checked the alignment. It is 1024KB which is div by 4. I changed the rig to AHCI and reran the test they are close enough to be called the same. The only test that shows really good is the one with "Direct I/O" unticked. That means it is using system buffering if I understand it. I am starting to think the disk is allright.

 

[Hopalong X]

1024 is the right alignment.

I'm not sure but running it through the dock, then cable length, and the e-Sata controller could slow things a little.

Direct I/O unticked is the way I run ATTO. That is default.

I think your good to go.
Mike

 

[HammerHead]

Irst

I think it is ok too. When the mfg rates these disks they must do it with system caching.

Side effect of changing to AHCI was the Intel service was using 8 to 6 % of my cpu constantly. I disabled the service and rebooted with no ill effects. Is Intel Rapid Storage Tech needed if I am not managing Raid disks?

 

[essenbe]

If you use the iaStor driver (Intel's AHCI driver), it is needed. IRST is where the iaStor driver comes from. I have it and don't use raid, but have done the same as you, disabled it in services. If you are going to use msahci driver, IRST is not needed. Consesus seems to be that iaStor posts better benchmarks than msahci, but not so that you would really notice.

 

[HammerHead]

Agree

I don't think there is a marked difference. I know I don't see any with it disabled. I'll run for a while and maybe uninstall it later.

 

[essenbe]

Which driver are you using? if you are using iaStor, uninstalling IRST will remove iaStor. If you are using msahci, it will have no affect in uninstalling it. But, with IRST disabled in services.msc, it is having no affect on your computer. If you are using an esata dock, that could be limiting your test results. You may get better results by installing it internally to the board's main sata ports.

 

[HammerHead]

Disks

In device manager all my hard disks show MS drivers. The only storage controller showing is Marvell. I don't see any reference to IaStor. Where should I look?

 

[essenbe]

Device manager-IDE ATA/ACPI controllers- at the bottom of that listing you should see either your Intel chipset ahci controllers or MSAHCI- if it is Intel chipset controllers-properties-driver. That will tell you which version you are using. Then click on the Details tab, scroll down to 'children' and it should show which drives are using it. If all you show is MSAHCI, then that is the driver you are using. It is Microsoft's AHCI driver. You should have your dock connected and running when you do this to see which driver the dock is using. If your boards esata dock is on a second Marvell controller, it is probably using MSAHCI. controller

EDIT: if you are connecting your SSD to the marvell chipset, you would probably get better performance from connecting it to the Intel chipset sata ports.

 

[essenbe]

Also, if you have AS SSD installed, open it and look in the top left corner. It will tell you your driver and alignment. You don't need to run the test. From the dropdown menu you an find that for each drive connected to your system.

 

[HammerHead]

Device Manager

Appears I am using MS.

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I didn't have AS SSD. Dld it My board has Marvell controllers which I am not overly pleased with. For instance OCZ firmware update software doesn't work if the disk is on a Marvell controller.

 

[essenbe]

Appears I am using MS.

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I didn't have AS SSD. Dld it My board has Marvell controllers which I am not overly pleased with. For instance OCZ firmware update software doesn't work if the disk is on a Marvell controller.

Your case has esata port on the front. You can connect that internal cable to an Intel sata port. Your dock will not be connected to a Marvell port then. Your best performance would be to install the SSD internally connected to an Intel sata port. Sometimes the dock itself or the esata cable can slow performance down.

 

[HammerHead]

Ext Ports

I don't remember where I plugged the front ext sata port in. I will have to take the side off and investigate. The ext port in the rear is right of the board and I don't see in the manual what controller it is off of. For the sata headers on the board I have six 3GBS on Intel and two 6GBS on a Marvel controller. I have two more 6GBS ports + two 3.0USB ports that are on an addon pcie card. The addon is a Marvell controller. Any how you have been a lot of help. Thank You. It's rep time.

 

[essenbe]

Thanks Bob. I hope it helps. If you need anything else, just contact me, although I've already told you more than I really know.