Drobo S Performance Testing

[rajczi]

Originally Posted by sandor

oh, forgot to add - i thought the WD Black drives would give much better performance. my QNAP with WD Green drives test out about 70 MB/s write & 90 MB/s read.

I plan to attach this to my Sage server and run a load test with intelligent recording turned on and leave my comskip running as usual to see what happens. That should give me 3 HD streams (2xMPEG/1xH.264) and 2 SD streams recording full time, then there will be up to 3 comskip running at the same time (max cap I have configured) and will see if I can do live playback of one of the streams. I should get a pretty clear picture of the performance at that point.

The current array that I have in use (HighPoint 2320 with 6x500 in RAID5) runs with a burst read of 350MB/s and a sustained read of around 180MB/s. I can't test the write performance with the volume in use, but I will run the same load test against that array as my benchmark.

One thing to remember is that my primary focus in this is to get storage that has enough capability to support the average user with simplicity that traditional raid solutions can't support. If this can be very stable on 3-4 HD tuners with a couple of ComSkip sessions running I will consider the test a solid success as that would cover the needs of the vast majority of users.

[sandor]

Originally Posted by rajczi

... If this can be very stable on 3-4 HD tuners with a couple of ComSkip sessions running I will consider the test a solid success as that would cover the needs of the vast majority of users.

definitely, i think matching those #'s, and the "plug and play" reputation of Drobo would make it a resounding success.

it would be great to get comparisons of other NAS' around the Drobo's price point too.

[rajczi]

Originally Posted by sandor

definitely, i think matching those #'s, and the "plug and play" reputation of Drobo would make it a resounding success.

it would be great to get comparisons of other NAS' around the Drobo's price point too.

I don't have access to a ReadyNAS at the moment. From people I have talked to, the Drobo would be simpler to manage, but since the price points are similar, it would be a good test.

I will look into getting one to add to the tests.

[tchapin]

So, any further results from your DROBO testing? The world wants to know! Or, at least I do....

[rajczi]

Originally Posted by tchapin

So, any further results from your DROBO testing? The world wants to know! Or, at least I do....

The Drobo S has had moments of splendor and hours of agony. It is generally a fantastic device and I have been able to get some fair but consistent performance numbers from it. However, it is very touchy about the eSATA interface it is plugged into. It really isn't the eSATA device itself, but rather the drivers provided for the eSATA. It appears that the Drobo S is really pushing the edges of the eSATA specification (huge volumes, etc) which has trouble with many of the drivers out there. I have had it working in a mode that I think is slowing it down for a while and have received one of the cards on the official recommended list but have not had a chance to install and test it.

[sandor]

any updates on the Drobo?

[Bandit]

My opinion is I couldn't be happier with my Drobo S

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by rajczi

It appears that the Drobo S is really pushing the edges of the eSATA specification (huge volumes, etc) which has trouble with many of the drivers out there.

There is not really any "edges" of the specification the DroboS would be able to touch. There is no mention in the specs of SATA/ESATA (which electronically are the same) which puts a limit on volumes, file sizes, etc.... Since V1.0 spec is capable of 1.5Gbits, DroboS wouldn't even begin to come near that limit either.

It looks to me like this is an issue of either poor drivers, written by Drobo, or a situation with a lowest bidder in the chipset of the Drobo/Motherboard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA