RAID-0 & "Enable Advanced Performance"

[the$#!Za.]

Hi all. I have a RAID-0 setup and noticed in the device manager of my RAID-0 drive and my other drives it has "Enable write caching on the disk" which are already enabled, but it has another setting below which says "Enable Advanced Performance" which are not currently enabled.

The note for that option says :

"Recommended only for disks with a back-up power supply. This setting further improves disk performance, but it also increases the risk of data loss if the disk loses power."

Should I enable this on my normal drives AND my main OS RAID-0 ?? Do I really need a UPS for this option or are they just sort of exagerating??

Thanx,
Ash.

[CrowdAds]

[wonderwrench]

This a a new feature in Vista. When enabled windows more aggressively caches drive writes. This can increase performance but can cause data loss if your PC crashes or looses power. I did some testing on the rig in my sig and found no performance improvement either way so I played it safe and set it back to default aka disabled.

[the$#!Za.]

Thanx for the reply wonderwrench.

Yea ok I think I'll play it safe, if you say there's no real performance boost and an actual increasing chance of data loss, then it's just not worth it.

Cheers,
Ash.

[bobmitch]

Just for the sake of updating your info. I enabled it with my RAID 0 array with Two Western Digital VelociRaptors. After a couple of days...I blue screened and when I rebooted...I had a message on my VelociRaptor on SATA 1 saying "Error Occured" in pink. Was able to run Windows Vista, but I felt some degradation in the OS. So I broke up my array...repartitioned, etc...and restored from an Acronis 2009 backup. All back to normal...and with the setting "Not enabled" I have been running with no issues for four days now..

Either these drives are too fast for what the setting does...or there is some kind of Parity error that occurs with the Advanced performance enabled. I guess if it really does nothing for performance...I recommend NOT using this setting

Bob

[the$#!Za.]

Hey bobmitch.

Man, talk about curiosity killed the cat, or bobmitch in this case. Thanx for taking a bullet for me, as the longest I had it enabled was 2 days or so. Sorry for the hassles.

So when was the last time you saw the blue screen of death before this one ?? Can you safely say the blue screen was definitely caused by you enabling the peformance option ??

Cheers,
Ash.

[bobmitch]

Right now, I am up and running again on a clean install...with it NOT enabled and so far, so good. I am not sure that it is the root of my problem. I am experimenting around with it...I have been able to restore from an Acronis backup, leave it enabled and have no problems after that for a week or two at a time. I am beginning to wonder if it isn't something else....I have two VelociRaptors in RAID 0. One is OEM and one retail...they both test perfectly using the WD programs that I can test them with. My other issue were the beta Nvidia drivers for my GTX 260...even after restoring...I had issues with video errors until I reverted back to the WHQL drivers. It is down to these two issues...

The odd part...on two other machines that are in the house...with Vista Home Premium...I checked the settings and both have the second choice enabled with no issues...mind you neither are RAID. Just single drives.

Prior to that...I have never had issues...until the beta drivers...I will keep posting here as things progress. As I said...I am on a clean Vista 64 bit install right now and have some backups to keep me from going belly up...time will tell.

Bob

[bobmitch]

OK...a few more tests...here is HD Tach results with the aggressive caching OFF:

[bobmitch]

And now, with Aggressive caching ON:



Not sure that it makes a "dramatic" difference....it DOES smooth things out a bit...

I can see and understand where this setting may help a single drive operation. But in RAID 0...everything is pretty much full tilt as it is. The difference of .01 in average speed with it on and off is nothing. I think that it may be redundant to enable it with RAID. As I said...I keep it disabled...and time will tell if I see a blue screen. My suspicion is that the VelociRaptors are so fast that the slightest hiccup may cause the controller issue...at these speeds...who knows...

[the$#!Za.]

Hey bobmitch.

Yea from what you've shown I'd say it's definitely not worth enabling it especially in a RAID-0 setup, I mean your screenshots say it all, and on top of that, you have Raptors

I'm even worried to enable it on my other 2 single drives as they have my backups and files, I'd rather lose the C: drive any day, even though you have your other Vista PC's with the performance enabled with no issues, I just can't risk it for my backup/files drives. Appreciate you taking the time to test and reply.

I'll still leave the "Enable write caching on the disk" options on all my drives including my RAID-0 as I've never had problems with that enabled even in XP Pro. Let me know if you get the blue screen with performance disabled but lets hope it doesn't.

What would we do without backup images ha ?? Ahh that sense of security

Cheers,
Ash.