ACARD RAM Disk 9010 series

[Polizei]

So, if this was a boot drive, if I pressed the power button to turn the computer on, would your RAM drive load the info from the CF into the RAM and then boot the computer? How would that work?

[Oliver]

welcome to xs and awesome to see ram drive @ ddr2 will be released

Thanks for the information you have posted

which voltage is supplied to the DIMMs, ddr2 jedec standard or?

thanks

[NeedMoMegaHurtZ]

So, if this was a boot drive, if I pressed the power button to turn the computer on, would your RAM drive load the info from the CF into the RAM and then boot the computer? How would that work?

Jason can confirm, but it's probably "always on" like i-ram and hyperdrive4. If the power goes out, it uses the battery. UPS is nice for extra comfort

[Polizei]

How would it be always on though... drawing power from the 5vsb? How? I see no wires.

[tiro_uspsss]

How would it be always on though... drawing power from the 5vsb? How? I see no wires.

I see Sata power connector and some kind of 4 pin power connector thing at the back...

[Sunayknits]

In less than a year flash memory will meet and probably exceed even SATA-II bandwidth. Most OEMs will figure out how to parallelize flash like the FusionIO drive and flash-based SSDs will have completely overtaken the market, replacing mechanical hard drives in workstations and laptops.

Magnetic hard drives will be used exclusively for backups, just as tape is relegated to those duties now. You will probably see one, maybe 2 drives in RAID 1 included for backups in systems because people will have much greater expectations for data availability and reliabililty.

Call me Nostradumbus, but I see this only as a novelty solution. The inherent problems of using DRAM to store data with any kind of longevity are just too great and I doubt this device will solve that problem.

Benchmark queen? Check.

Interesting and fun to mess with? Check.

Useful and valuable? Fail.

[m^2]

What are expected access times with onboard and external controllers?

[One_Hertz]

Most OEMs will figure out how to parallelize flash like the FusionIO drive and flash-based SSDs will have completely overtaken the market, replacing mechanical hard drives in workstations and laptops.

They won't replace HDDs for a while... Speed ultimately means little in workstations. There are still WAY too many BIG problems with SSDs that can not be sovled in 1 year. Maybe 3-5 years.

[Levish]

In less than a year flash memory will meet and probably exceed even SATA-II bandwidth. Most OEMs will figure out how to parallelize flash like the FusionIO drive and flash-based SSDs will have completely overtaken the market, replacing mechanical hard drives in workstations and laptops.

Magnetic hard drives will be used exclusively for backups, just as tape is relegated to those duties now. You will probably see one, maybe 2 drives in RAID 1 included for backups in systems because people will have much greater expectations for data availability and reliabililty.

Call me Nostradumbus, but I see this only as a novelty solution. The inherent problems of using DRAM to store data with any kind of longevity are just too great and I doubt this device will solve that problem.

Benchmark queen? Check.

Interesting and fun to mess with? Check.

Useful and valuable? Fail.

Sorry Nostradumbus but its already in use and critical for the enterprise (not this particular solution, but its more expensive relative).

[JasonACARD]

So, if this was a boot drive, if I pressed the power button to turn the computer on, would your RAM drive load the info from the CF into the RAM and then boot the computer? How would that work?

Good thinking there. When you turn off your PC the backup mechanism will start, when you turn it back on, data will be fed from CF card.

welcome to xs and awesome to see ram drive @ ddr2 will be released

Thanks for the information you have posted

which voltage is supplied to the DIMMs, ddr2 jedec standard or?

thanks

Thank you I'll try my best to explain here.
DDR2 RAMs varies a bit on voltage base on, partly, DDR speed and CL timing.
Internal controller will synchronize the difference so all RAM onboard will operate as one. I hope I answer your question?

What are expected access times with onboard and external controllers?

For ACARD RAM Disk, access time is too fast and the benchmark software cannot evaluate the speed since it enters ns (nanosecond?) access time instead of ms.

Sorry Nostradumbus but its already in use and critical for the enterprise (not this particular solution, but its more expensive relative).

Users have different preferences and I respect everyone's opinion.
Like I said before, SSD has huge advantages in a lot of applications, but it also bares the drawback of write time and write cycle limitation.
I don't see why this cannot be solved with the advancement of technology.

As far as cost of SSD goes, it will become dramatically user friendly within a year or two, depending on how the giant players plan their marketing.

Back to RAM Disk, there is a fine line between DDR RAM Disk and SLC/MLC SSDs.
Info on SSD are everywhere online; so I will stop here and not to make myself appearing incompetent going into the technical.

There are a lot of RAM Disk applications, already deployed, in video editing, HD microscope video capturing, and enterprise grade solutions. RAM Disk is absolutely not perfect, but it does have great values.
What ACARD is trying to do is to introduce something different, an option for the user, with 9010 RAM Disk.

[m^2]

For ACARD RAM Disk, access time is too fast and the benchmark software cannot evaluate the speed since it enters ns (nanosecond?) access time instead of ms.

Nanoseconds...nice.
Other RAM SSD manufacturers measure it somehow. Hyperdrive claims 1100 ns read/250 ns write.

[Buckeye]

I think I just found what to use my other 4 SATA connectors on my ARC-1231ML for

I like it !!

[tiro_uspsss]

Sorry Nostradumbus but its already in use and critical for the enterprise (not this particular solution, but its more expensive relative).

QFT

while DDR based SSDs arent used for super-long term storage, they still definitely used, & in a rather sizeable solution.. Sunayknits, ever heard of terra ramsan?

http://www.thinkcp.com/products/terraramsan.asp

[crackhead2k]

QFT

while DDR based SSDs arent used for super-long term storage, they still definitely used, & in a rather sizeable solution.. Sunayknits, ever heard of terra ramsan?

http://www.thinkcp.com/products/terraramsan.asp

Notice 2500 watts

[Sunayknits]

QFT

while DDR based SSDs arent used for super-long term storage, they still definitely used, & in a rather sizeable solution.. Sunayknits, ever heard of terra ramsan?

http://www.thinkcp.com/products/terraramsan.asp

Yeah I've seen the Texas Memory Systems devices and they are very impressive. I suppose there is still a niche for this kind of thing. Still, I believe flash will soon be so fast as to eliminate this market entirely.

I guess time will tell!

[tiro_uspsss]

Notice 2500 watts

I must admit I missed that part - my eyes got all misty when I read: " Over 3.2 million random I/O requests per second " just imagine, ACARD has ~95K (read) IOPs, so thats the equivalent of... almost 34 ACARDS!

[m^2]

This system is very old.
RamSan 440 offers 512 GB @ 650 Watts peak.
RamSan 500 - 2TB of flash + 64 GB RAM cache @ 300W.
And each takes 4U, not 24.
ADDED:

I must admit I missed that part - my eyes got all misty when I read: " Over 3.2 million random I/O requests per second " just imagine, ACARD has ~95K (read) IOPs, so thats the equivalent of... almost 34 ACARDS!

IO meter is from a RAID 0 setup

# IOPS 20,000 per SATA port

[WangChung]

I just had a great idea for Acard's new drive, and how I'm thinking about setting up my system. I'm thinking 1 RAM disk totally dedicated to OS and bare essentials like codecs and hotfixes. Then, a second "image" RAM drive. Then as big storage (here's where it gets good, I think anyway), 3x750GB (or whatever size you want) standard HDDs, that store ghost images of the second RAM drive. So what you do is boot into windows, install your game onto the 2nd image RAM drive, take a ghost image of it and stick it in the big storage. Write a simple .bat file and any time you want to play like CS, the image is transfered from the big storage to the image RAM drive and played from there. That way you don't have to worry about maxing out the storage on any of the RAM drives or having to pick and choose which games to keep installed on there, and while your initial "load" time would be slightly longer, it would definitely pay off while in game. Hmmm....

/beardstroke

[m^2]

I just had a great idea for Acard's new drive, and how I'm thinking about setting up my system. I'm thinking 1 RAM disk totally dedicated to OS and bare essentials like codecs and hotfixes. Then, a second "image" RAM drive. Then as big storage (here's where it gets good, I think anyway), 3x750GB (or whatever size you want) standard HDDs, that store ghost images of the second RAM drive. So what you do is boot into windows, install your game onto the 2nd image RAM drive, take a ghost image of it and stick it in the big storage. Write a simple .bat file and any time you want to play like CS, the image is transfered from the big storage to the image RAM drive and played from there. That way you don't have to worry about maxing out the storage on any of the RAM drives or having to pick and choose which games to keep installed on there, and while your initial "load" time would be slightly longer, it would definitely pay off while in game. Hmmm....

/beardstroke

Copying games before use...You'll loose way more time on it than you'll gain by having them on a RAM device.

[Levish]

my bet is that the acard solution is even better than expected when paired with a quality controller is used as opposed to the onboard stuff, as IOPs and latency is at its mercy at a certain point (barring of course your own dram controller isn't holding the performance back)

also

JasonACard my reply was for SunayKnits, more specifically clarifing that a solution similar to ACard's device is already in "mission critical" type use.

[ewitte]

Lol those types of RAMSAN drives cost more than most peoples houses.

[Levish]

but they are not in any way shape or form designed / intended for home users.

[JasonACARD]

Hi Guys,
glad to see the conversation goes on
I was having hands-on testing with our units in the past few days and it's ready to go.
Soon we'll be seeing some reviews.
Are there any good review websites that you guys recommend?

[RADCOM]

Apart from here lol

Anandtech, toms hardware and hardocp are the ones I really like although many here will now spit on and deride me. I m looking forward to testing one myself if you'll sell me a sample

[nox_uk]

Are there any good review websites that you guys recommend?

in addition to Anandtech, I like reading the reviews at hexus too, but for a drive i'd look at www.storagereview.com

Nox