Help me Diagnose SSD Raid_0 Array Problem

Hey Guys,

System: Gigabyte EP45-Extreme / Q9650 / DDR2
Drives: 3 x Super Talent Ultradrive ME 32GB MLC 1711 Firmware
Controller: OnBoard Intel ICH10
OS: Win7 standard RC1 Install -no tweaks-

Can't seam to find the culprit for this abnormal ssd_Raid_0 problem I'm having, on all the benchmarks my ssd's graphs show inconstant reads/writes (drops suddenly) and the scale lines are all over the place, see pic:

http://i28.tinypic.com/160vnu8.png

I've browsed thru many similar benchmark on same type of drives (Vertex and Ultradrive) and they all show a constant line almost unchangeable throughout the entire bench.

All I can think of:
- Saturated ICH10? I'm using all 6 ports 3x ssd's 90Gb's in Raid_0 + 2x F1's Raid_0 3TB's + 1x DVDrom/rw

- I made a small partition on the SSd's for Pagefile (9Gb's)

Where the drives unused before you installed W7?
Also the Pagefile partition is not needed, your better of without it.
If the drives where already used before i advise you to use hdderase 3.3 to completely wipe the SSD's.
If you have any questions "how to" please ask.

Fragmentation looks to be your issue. It's just going to keep getting worse until you update fw or HDD erase.
Apparently OCZ and Indilinx have collaborated to make a custom Vertex fw that pretty much will keep the drives in as new state.
Indilinx may post a fw update for the other manufactures but I doubt it will have GC like OCZ's. It may work differently or you may
have to wait for trim to be enabled both on the drives fw and on your ICH10R.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Earzz

Where the drives unused before you installed W7?
Also the Pagefile partition is not needed, your better of without it.
If the drives where already used before i advise you to use hdderase 3.3 to completely wipe the SSD's.
If you have any questions "how to" please ask.

---

Yes Earzzz they where used elsewhere.

I'll try that :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rhys

Fragmentation looks to be your issue. It's just going to keep getting worse until you update fw or HDD erase.
Apparently OCZ and Indilinx have collaborated to make a custom Vertex fw that pretty much will keep the drives in as new state.
Indilinx may post a fw update for the other manufactures but I doubt it will have GC like OCZ's. It may work differently or you may
have to wait for trim to be enabled both on the drives fw and on your ICH10R.

---

I didn't know that fresh Win7 install would be fragmented. I guess because of previous use the Quick Format isn't enough then.

Yes so I heard about the new firmware, but I'm already using that update (1711), problem is in Raid_0 the tool is not working just yet (Trim).

I'll try the erase and then install OS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jor3lBR

I didn't know that fresh Win7 install would be fragmented. I guess because of previous use the Quick Format isn't enough then.

Yes so I heard about the new firmware, but I'm already using that update (1711), problem is in Raid_0 the tool is not working just yet (Trim).

I'll try the erase and then install OS.

---

Apparently the 1711 Fw other manufactures have is missing the OCZ implemented GC code.

The more times you install/format the array the more the drives will slow down. Quick format or full format make zero difference, you need to secure erase.

One option is for you to use ccleaner to delete empty space, this may bring back some performance, but the only way currently for you to get fresh drives is to HDDerase.

Is the secure-erase supposed to be lightning fast?

I'm getting this message on drive number #2:

"Factory default maximum address does NOT equal the maximum LBA addres currently set!!!
**********************************************
Special diagnostic areas, HPA and/or DCO exist on the drive.
Total sie of these area is: 1213 SECTORS

DO YOU WANT HDDERASE.EXE TO ERASE THESE SECTORS? (Y/N): "



- what should I do?

I went ahead and pulled the trigger erasing that info on the #2 drive (the newer ver. of them, I don't know if it will have any issues in the future), but the numbers after the HDDErase 3.3 got much better and linear:

http://i25.tinypic.com/zx36zr.png

http://i25.tinypic.com/17z57p.png

Normal Windows 7 RTM install on single partition Super Talent Ultradrive ME 32GB x 3.

Do you guys think I should ALIGN the drives after the HDDErase to gain some more speed or there is no need to do that anymore?

Aligment is fine with W7/Vista install, and the speed is almost as high as the ICH10 can give so trying to finetune it is not really needed.
Extra info: HD Tune Pro 3.50 will give you better readings then the version your using now.