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Hybrid Technology, Hard Drives, Caching Controllers, Outboard addons...

WeeboTech

By WeeboTech
in Storage Devices and Controllers

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WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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After using the Momentus XT hybrid drives a while, I knew this technology was going to take off.

 

After all, the marriage of SSD and rotating magnetic media was bound to happen as users demand more performance.

 

The most recent research I've done was stimulated by a post in good deals about the RocketHybrid controller.

I found it very interesting as I found other technology that was similiar, yet different.

 

I figured it would be interesting to discuss these and other alternatives that people discover.

I don't think this technology is usefull for mass storage in typical unraid uses, but I do think it's worthwhile for those who may use it for apps/cache or vmware environments.

 

From what I've discovered though, allot of these hybrid solutions are Windows software driven.

 

Where i see it useful in my situation is for apps, source directory and home trees or filesystems/drives with many many many small files. This would help alleviate searches since the most used directories and/or superblock LBA's might be accessible in faster SSD cache.

 

HighPoint RocketHybrid 1220 PCI-Express 2.0 x 1 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) Controller Ca

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=16919.0

 

Koutech IO-PESA238 PCI-Express 2.0 Low Profile SATA III (6.0Gb/s) Dual Channel Controller Card with HybridDrive Support (1 x Int+1 x mSATA)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816104024

 

MB882HX-1SB 2.5” SATA SSD Xpander Hybrid Adapter

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=135

 

Silverstone HDDBOOST

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=245

 

Momentus® XT Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/internal-storage/momentus-xt-kit/?cmpid=ppc-_-momentusxt-_-g-_-us-_-momentus_xt-_-b&gclid=CNO74aiS3KwCFcZM4AodkVbtqg

 

Feel free to discuss and/or add other alternative hardware.

bubbaQ Proficient

bubbaQ

Posted
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You are correct that many of the tools to do this are Windows based.

 

One in particular I like is FancyCache.  It lets you create a L1 drive cache in RAM, and a L2 drive cache on another (i.e. fast SSD) drive. 

 

A similar tool is SuperCache, but it is RAM cache only --- it does not include the L2 cache SSD option in FanchCache.  But it works well.

 

Both SuperCache and Fancycache allow you to enable write-back caching..... dangerous, but uber-fast.

 

Of the products listed in the OP, they vary widely.  The Silverstone is not very useful IMHO, as it is just a dumb mirror of the first part of the hard drive to the SSD.

 

Areca has several controllers that accept up to 4GB of cache RAM.

WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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The ramdisk is fast! However for older platforms with limited memory availability it may not be as useful.

 

In linux we have tmpfs, which is fast, but does not survive reboots, hence the reason I looked into the i-RAM and ACARD.

 

I like the idea of a firmware ssd like cache that survives reboots.

 

I'm interested in the silverstone product because it does seem pretty simple.

clone the first chunk of the hard drive that is the same as the SSD. Fast reads from ssd, write through to hard drive.

Now if only the write through updated the SSD in near real time it would be good.

 

I wonder if this would work for a unix environment.

 

Why this intrigues me is the simplicity of not having to do anything too special. If your SSD dies, your data is still intact on the rotating media.

 

What I would love to see is Seagate's hybrid algorithm brought to market as an add on product like the Silverstone.

I think Seagate has it right, The most used LBA's are stored on the SSD cache.  This keeps superblock and important filesystem structures in the ssd cache along with used files.

 

 

WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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Raidon InTank iH2420-2S-S2 SSD Expander Hybrid Mobile Rack

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817995068

http://www.raidon-usa.com/product_detail.php?product_name=iH2420-2S-S2+%28HyBrid+RunneR%29&p_id=34

 

Raidon InTank iS1010-2S-S2 Dual Mobile Rack for 2.5" SSD/SATA HDD and 3.5" SATA HDD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817995066

http://www.raidon-usa.com/product_detail.php?product_name=iS1010-2S-S2&p_id=40

 

 

Raidon InTank iH1010-2S-S2 SSD Expander Hybrid Mobile Rack

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817995067

http://www.raidon-usa.com/product_detail.php?product_name=iH1010-2S-S2+%28HyBrid+RunneR%29+&p_id=33

Fully supports linux... this may be good for those vmware virtual machine instances.

 

bubbaQ Proficient

bubbaQ

Posted
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In linux we have tmpfs, which is fast, but does not survive reboots, hence the reason I looked into the i-RAM and ACARD.

 

I like the idea of a firmware ssd like cache that survives reboots.

 

My RAMDisk survives reboots... i keep my WIndoze profile and certain apps on a nonvolitle RAMDisk.  Several packages such as VSuite and DataRam give you the option of saving/restoring the contents of the ramdisk through reboots.  Some will even allocate RAM dynamically like tmpfs.  It is easy to script the same thing on Linux.

 

Adaptec also has an add-on for certain controllers that lets you use an SSD as a cache for an array.... just like the Ocz product.

 

Actually Ocz is doing it with third-party software.... but IIRC, they bought the company and you can't buy the software.

bubbaQ Proficient

bubbaQ

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I think Seagate has it right, The most used LBA's are stored on the SSD cache.  This keeps superblock and important filesystem structures in the ssd cache along with used files.

 

Agreed.  That's why I use a small write-back RAMcache for the SSD that Windows boots from.  The UI is snappier and is saves write cycles on the SSD.

 

That's also a big reason why Windows' file-based caching sucks.

WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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I think Seagate has it right, The most used LBA's are stored on the SSD cache.  This keeps superblock and important filesystem structures in the ssd cache along with used files.

 

Agreed.  That's why I use a small write-back RAMcache for the SSD that Windows boots from.  The UI is snappier and is saves write cycles on the SSD.

 

That's also a big reason why Windows' file-based caching sucks.

 

I may look into the vsuite and fancy cache(that is what you are referring to right?) for my Windows 7 HTPC.

I may look into he RAIDON 5.25 product for my linux machine. Specifically to house my virtual machines.

 

bubbaQ Proficient

bubbaQ

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What would be perfect is a caching non-RAID controller supporting just 1 or 2 drives:

 

1. PCIe 4x or higher like Areca

2. User-upgradable onboard cache RAM, like Areca, but use less expensive desktop RAM, and allow 4 sticks of 8GB each for a total of 32GB

3. Battery backup for cache, like Areca

4. Cut costs by using fewer ports and no RAID ... only need 1 or 2 drives supported, like HighPoint

5. User option to enable read-ahead algorithms.

6. Must be completely transparent to OS, like Areca and Momentus XT (and unlike Ocz hybrid)

 

What I'd like to know is how much of the cost of the Areca is in the RAID support, versus the RAM cache support.  What would the Areca cost if it was just a RAM caching card w/o RAID?

WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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That would be cool, but I'm not sure it would be practical for sale as a product.

 

I've never seen a large cache, non-RAID controller. All have had RAID. However you still can use these RAID controllers in wb cache JBOD mode.  Just not with that amount of ram in a 1-2 drive version.

 

So far what comes close is the hybrid SSD drive controllers.

Only thing I'm noticing is they only Cache to the SSD, the first chunk of the magnetic media.

 

Momentus XT seems to be the smart one so far.

 

I would think that if you need 32GB of caching, it would be better to put it in the host for now.

 

 

bubbaQ Proficient

bubbaQ

Posted
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I've never seen a large cache, non-RAID controller.

 

I used them in several boxes (Unix and Novell) in the past when I was in corporate IT (prior to 2003.)  They were SCSI, and had 4 sticks of 64MB RAM.

WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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Funny!! I remember tekram.. I never owned one though.

 

buslogic, qlogic, adaptec... even perstor... LOL! remember those?

 

come to think if it I still have a couple DAC960's laying around.

BobPhoenix Proficient

BobPhoenix

Posted
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Ahhh... this brings back memories:

 

http://www.free-photos.biz/images/consumer_products/electronics/kl_tekram_dc820_eisa.jpg

 

 

It seems Tekram and Areca are from the same or related companies?  Makes sense.

I have a Tekram IDE EISA card somewhere in my basement.  At the time it was great.  Very fast access for IDE.  Opps was remembering wrong.  It was a LongShin which technically was a Tekram since the drivers I have mention "The Wndows 95 Driver (DC6X0.PDR) supports Tekram IDE Caching Controller series, which use firmware/BIOS v2.0x. They are: DC-600CD/600CF/600C, DC-620B, DC-680T/C/CD" in the Readme for the Win95 driver zip file.  Also had several Promise caching IDE controllers as well - 2032 pure ISA, 4030VL (VISA Local?) the ISA connector that had extra slot at end similar to PCI-X and PCI.
WeeboTech Veteran

WeeboTech

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err.. o--m--g!

 

yeah like anyone would run that (or afford it) but a nice dream.

 

For some of us, it's our career and how we keep our skills up to par.

 

Sometimes when I look around at all my hardware I shudder. I have way too many computers, way too many hard drives, monitors and circuit boards.

 

For me having unRAID consolidate all my hard drives and using SSD's in the many machines is my future.

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