Anvil's Storage Utilities

[Anvil]

So, what is Anvil's Storage Utilities?

First of all, it's a Storage benchmark for SSD's and HDD's where you can check and monitor your performance.

The Standard Storage Benchmark performs a series of tests, you can run the full test or just the read or the write test or you can run a single test like i.e. 4K QD16.

This is showing a screenshot made by clicking the Screenshot button in the application where I have just performed a full test of the Samsung 470 SSD.

SAMSUNG 470 Series SSD_128GB_2GB-20110726-2232.png

We'll walk through the main functions of the standard benchmark in the following screenshot.

At the top of the app you select the size of the test, which drive to test as well as a menu where you can set the default preferences in the Settings menu option.

To the left there are buttons for running a single benchmark like i.e. 4K QD16

To the right there are buttons for either running the read tests, the full test or the write test as well as the scores.

Bottom left of the screen there is a collection of information about the OS, motherboard, processor and memory.

Bottom right is a collection of information about the selected drive as well as the compressibility of data is used in the test.
The compressibility option is of interest for drives using compression, like the SandForce based SSD's.

Most of the information displayed at the bottom of the app is collected using WMI, the rest is found in the Registry.
WMI is short for Windows Management Instrumentation and has been a part of Windows since Windows 2000.

Info_main.png

TheSSDReview will be hosting the download and it can be found at this link

Preliminary download link for Beta5

Fixes
There will be a fix for Windows XP in the next beta. (beta 4)
- WMI class missing for Windows XP.
Drivers
-Fixed iaStorV detection.

Beta5 2011-August-01
-Will now show if Volume is compressed.
-Option to recreate testfiles on every Full run
-Option for setting runtime length of MixedIO in ms.
-Cosmetic fixes (some are still open)
-Display IRST version for 32bit OS.
-Settings have been rearranged.
-Save Screenshot in Threaded read/write now defaults to PNG

Beta7 2011-August-25
-Fixed detection of memory cards. (resulted in detection errors)
-A few minor fixes.
-Beta expires 2011-September-30. (I expect it will be released before it expires)

Preliminary download link for Beta7


Beta9 2011-October-18
- Lists Intel Option ROM version.
- Pause on Endurance test is now user configurable.
- There is now a 500ms pause for every 500 files deleted.
- Expires 27th of January 2012

Link to download of beta9
new download link for Beta9

Beta11 2012-January-12
- Expires May 2012
- Next beta will include more on full-span testing, expected within a few weeks
new download link for Beta11


Release Candidate 1 (2012-05-19)
- Expires September 2012

Fixes
-Fixed bug when USB drives are connected
-Fixed bug when there are unpartitioned drives

What's new
-ASU now requires Administrative rights.
-USB drives are now supported
-TRIM can be triggered if TRIM is supported by the OS, will work on most drives that supports TRIM.
-Default Compression is set to 100% (Incompressible)
-New setting for Enabling/Disabling testing with "Write-Cache Buffer Flushing" on the X79 when using the 3 series RSTe driver.

-Endurance : Layout changed

Temporary test folder renamed from _AP_BENCH to _ASU_BENCH, the folder is at the root of the drive.
In case the system shuts down and ASU is not able to clean up the test folder, the contents can be deleted.
Files produced by ASU Benchmark have the following extensions : TRM and TST

Make sure that you don't have any folders that are in conflict with the test folder.

new download link for RC1

Release Candidate 2 is now available. (2012-06-04)

Download link

Fixes

- It now detects OS's using WMI. (it wasn't handling new OS's properly)
- Drive-name is now being displayed top right.
- Changes to colors, more theme friendly.

The color/theme changes might still need adjustments so feedback is welcome!

---

Release Candidate 6 is now available. (2013-01-03)

Download link

Fixes
- Expiry date set to 2012-December-31

--

Version 1.1.0 is now available. (2014-01-03)

Download link

Fixes
- Removed Expiry date
- Minor fixes

--

more info to follow in the next few posts...

[Anvil]

Menu and Settings

menu.png


Settings_info.png

...

[Anvil]

Threaded IO tests

Threaded_IO_read.png

Threaded_IO_write.png

...

[Anvil]

Endurance testing

So, what does this test do?
It creates files at a random size, every second file is between 1KB and 128KB in size, the other files can be from 1KB up to the size of a typical digital photograph. ( 10MB+)
The point is that it creates a files at a random size just like we do in real life.

First off, it has to be placed on the drive where the test is being performed.
If you fail to do so it will run the Endurance test on the drive where the executable (application) is placed.
Once the test is started it will create a TEST folder where all the files are held, so, make sure to copy the application to the drive where you are performing the endurance test.

By clicking Start you will by default fill the drive until there is 12GiB free space left, you can change this by modifying the value found top left "Min GiB Free".
Max # of files to create regulates how many files as a maximum to create per loop.
Loops lets you set a specific count of loops unless you want the test to run "forever"

When each loop is finished it will
-delete the files created in the loop
-perform random writes on a designated file, this file is not deleted between loops.
-take a 5 second pause
-optionally perform an MD5 test

Endurance.PNG

There are a few settings that relates to the Endurance test

Randomize compressibility (default Off)
Allow deduplication of random data (default On)
Keep running totals (default Off)

Random write duration (default 5000ms)

MD5 options
Perform MD5 testing (default Off)
The frequency of MD5 testing, every n loops (default 5)
Select a source file for the MD5 test
Tell the app what checksum to compare the test to

Preparing for an Endurance test

You'll have to fill the drive with static data until there is adequate free space left.
approximate figures:
40GB drive : 12GB static data, 25GB free space left
60GB drive : 32GB static data, 25GB free space left
64GB drive : 35GB static data, 26GB free space left
...

[Ao1]

Anvil, I would like to thank you for the hard work and thought you have put into this app. Kudos

Great to see it go live.

[Anvil]

Thanks!

Still a bit to do but we'll get there

[One_Hertz]

A large improvement over AS SSD and CDM that a lot of people use these days. Well done!

[flamenko]

Have used it in the past few reviews and its a world away from the frustrations most had experienced trying to get through IOMeter. Its also good to be able to quickly test SSDs with different configurations of read, write or mixed IO to see where the best IOPS result can be achieved.

Qute frankly, this is my favorite synthetic benchmark program. Great job Anvil and I think this software will do absolutely great. You might as well contact www.download.com for their inclusion right away.

[johnw]

Suggestion:

Please include the version number or date in the filename of the zip archive or folder in the zip archive. That way we do not have to download and run the app to find out if we have the latest version.

[Hopalong X]

Great benchmark tool.
I just tried it out.

I would "Thank you" as others have if I knew how.

[Anvil]

Suggestion:

Please include the version number or date in the filename of the zip archive or folder in the zip archive. That way we do not have to download and run the app to find out if we have the latest version.

Will do, a bit hectic the last few days

[bluestang]

Thanks for the app and the tutorial

[TV Addict#2]

runs reliably on these two systems
you do good work man

[Ao1]

I'll be the first to post a benchmark

Mixed I/O is a little known performance metric and it's great to be able to easily test this metric.

Here are a couple of runs at QD2. (I've got a seperate instance of Anvils app running on the V3 at the same time, so could be that the results took a hit).

[Vapor]

Getting some buggy behavior on the benchmark part of the newest beta

Was working fine earlier, but now it's bugging out, not sure why. I loved it when it was working though

Sequential reads/writes are stopping at just 4MB for some reason. With my 2R0 V2 50GB array, I'm getting divide by zero errors with sequentials (probably related if it dips below 8ms and timing chunks are 1/64th of a second). And with my Intel 80GB G1, I get this:

[Anvil]

I'll have a look at the Intel G1, I haven't forgotten the issue

It's a bit strange that it can't read or write more than 4MB during the sequential IO part of the benchmark, are there other tasks running on that computer?

Could you try disabling real-time AV scanning while running one test?
(I've changed the extension on the last few betas, it could lead to the anti-virus reacting differently to the benchmark)

[Vapor]

Oh, everything I normally do is still running

No AV, but Photoshop, Lightroom, Excel, Skype, Spotify, Pidgin, and Chrome are all running. They were all running (except maybe Lightroom) when I ran it yesterday and it worked though (G1 worked just fine yesterday too)

[strikethrough]It seems to skip the "Preparing the testfile" step[/strikethrough] Preparing the testfile step seems to be the issue (usually takes 15-20sec, but now it's taking 47-48ms).

[deathman20]

Oh sweet! Thanks for this program. Has a lot more function then some other ones.

[felix_w]

Well... I tried it...need to read carefully about the programm's various settings and stages of testing...this is my result:



4x Vertex 30GB mod to Turbo on LSI 9260-4i w/ FP

[One_Hertz]

80gb iodrive + 320gb mlc iodrive

[SteveRo]

Mr. Anvil - Much thanks for a great app! This should become very popular, looks to me to be much better than ASSSD or CDM alone for sure.
Mr. 1hz - wow - I suspect this is the high end scores for the bench for sure! Is this standard format or fast write format on the iodrives? Standard NTFS, 4K cluster windows softraid? I will post some benches - hopefully later today.

[Anvil]

Thanks to all of you and especially to the ones that have been part of the preview/beta, some for a couple of months and last but not least to the guys at TheSSDReview for hosting the download.

There is a new build (Beta4) at TheSSDReview, it fixes a WMI related issue on Windows XP, it looks like some are still using the good old XP and the benchmark works just fine on XP with the new Beta.

@SteveRo

Looking forward to a duel of the ioDrives

[One_Hertz]

Mr. Anvil - Much thanks for a great app! This should become very popular, looks to me to be much better than ASSSD or CDM alone for sure.
Mr. 1hz - wow - I suspect this is the high end scores for the bench for sure! Is this standard format or fast write format on the iodrives? Standard NTFS, 4K cluster windows softraid? I will post some benches - hopefully later today.

Standard format... The fast write format doesn't seem to do anything after they implemented TRIM. It used to reduce degradation, but now there isn't any to begin with so it is kind of useless in normal environments.

P.S. PM me when you are done playing with that iodrive and want to sell it

[aintz]

stop buying iodrive and buy a house so i can move in. thank you.

[bluestang]

@Anvil
Thanks for the XP fix, works fine now
I'll try and start the Endurance Testing on that 64GB M225/Vertex Turbo FW drive real soon. Need to take some baseline screenshots first.

EDIT: Is the "Stop" button wiper tool and then start again without loosing track of totals?

EDIT 2: Nevermind. Figured it out myself, it still keeps track if you stop and restart (I didn't close app either) so I could run Wiper.

No TRIM is killing me, first 2-3 loops run @ ~150MiB/s then drops to ~50-60 on loops 4-5 and on.