linux-kernel - Re: SATA-performance: Linux vs. FreeBSD

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Date:	Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:16:52 +0100
From:	Matthias Schniedermeyer <ms@...d.de>
To:	"Martin A. Fink" <fink@....mpg.de>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: SATA-performance: Linux vs. FreeBSD

Martin A. Fink wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 13. Februar 2007 00:31 schrieben Sie:
>> Martin A. Fink wrote:
>>> I have to store big amounts of data coming from 2 digital cameras to disk. 
>>> Thus I have to write blocks of around 1 MB at 30 to 50 frames per second 
>>> for 
>>> a long period of time. So it is important for me that the harddisk drive 
>>> is 
>>> reliable in the sense of "if it is capable of 50 MB/s then it should 
>>> operate 
>>> at this speed. Constantly."
>> The good old handful of suggestions:
>>
>> - Use a dedicated disc for the task.
> 
> I used a dedicated disk for this task. No one else besides the task is writing 
> to it!

OK.

>> - Use an empty disc so there is no fragmentation.
> 
> All tests were performed on empty disk!

OK.

>> - Buy a bigger disk, they have high bandwidths.
> 
> I have a flash disk from a manufacturer who grants me 48 MB/s. And FreeBSD as 
> well as Windows reach this value. Only Linux 2.6.18 is far away from it (42 
> MB/s)

Even 48MB/s is quite low.
I've reached up to 70MB/s with a single 500GB Seagate model and even my older HDDs all reach 60MB/s (at least on the outer cylinders)
But i haven't tested any "sync/fsync" in between, only after.

>> - Buy a more "specialized" disc.
> 
> see above
> 
>>   for e.x.: Western Digital Raptor X(*) a 150GB, 10-KRPM S-ATA disc.
>> - Buy several discs and use RAID 0
>>   or alternate between discs when writing.
> 
> What I have to build is an application for the International Space Station 
> ISS. I am limited with power and space. So If the disk is able to write 
> constantly 48 MB/s then the Operating System should do this!

OK. That appears to be a serious constraint.
Do HDDs cope well with zero gravity?
At least the SSD won't have a problem with that. ;-)

> The problem is: FreeBSD is fast, but lacks of some special drivers. Linux has 
> all drivers but access to harddisk is unpredictable and thus unreliable!
> What can I do??

Personally i haven't had such bad write speeds in years. Taking USB connected and/or encrypted partitions aside.
But on the other hand: I don't sync(fsync) until i have to.
And personally i have good (and constant bandwidth) experience using XFS as a filesystem.
(I have 41 HDDs with a total capacity of 10.5 TB, performance is quite important for me.)

Also you have skipped the information how the images "arrive" on the system (PCI(e) card?), that may be important for an "end to end" view of the problem.

And what's also missing. What is "a long period of time".
Calculating best-case with the SSD:
27GB divided by 30MB/s only gives a bit more than 15 Minutes.
And worst case with 50MB/s is less than 10 Minutes.

-- 
Real Programmers consider "what you see is what you get" to be just as
bad a concept in Text Editors as it is in women. No, the Real Programmer
wants a "you asked for it, you got it" text editor -- complicated,
cryptic, powerful, unforgiving, dangerous.

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