Performance Tips - Western Digital WD Serial ATA RAID Controller User Manual

Performance Tips

Here are some tips that may optimize performance in a RAID 0 striped array. If you are using
an audio/video-editing card, we also recommend reviewing your card's documentation for
additional information.
Use WD SATA RAID Controller as D: or other non-bootable drive in a Striped Array
For Audio/Video editing, keep the original system boot drive on the standard IDE controller
as C: drive. Partitioning software such as FDISK will see the array as one physical drive, D: or
later. This will prevent file fragmentation and provide better accessibility to the array.
Optimize Array for "Performance"
The EasyBuild BIOS Utility autosetup menu allows optimizing the array for Performance
applications such as A/V Editing. The default Performance setting (Striping) selects a Stripe
Block size of 64. This larger block size is recommended for the data streaming requirements of
A/V editing. You may select an even larger block size in manual mode (see Chapter 3).
EasyBuild(tm) BIOS Version 1.xx (Build xxxx)
(c)2003 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved
[Auto Setup Options Menu]
Optimize Array for:
[Auto Setup Configuration]
Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stripe
Stripe Block Size . . . . . . . . . 64
Drives used in Array . . . . . . . 2
Array Disk Capacity . . . . . . 160048
[Keys Available]
[ ↑ ] Up [ ↓ ] Down [ ← , → , Space] Change Option [ESC] Exit [Ctrl-Y] Save
Change Setting of PCI Bus Utilization
Certain brands of video capture cards can produce a glitch on play back of .AVI files. A
setting of Less for PCI Bus utilization reduces the time which WD SATA RAID Controller
occupies on the PCI bus and frees that time for use by other PCI devices and will eliminate
the glitch dropout effect on playback.
1. Run WD Array Management Software. Click on the controller icon
display Options in Information View.
2. The PCI bus utilization slider is located at the bottom of the window. Move the slider to
the left to reduce the time WD SATA RAID Controller occupies the PCI bus. Then, click
Commit.
Once a PCI bus setting has been selected, no reboot is required.
Performance
WD SERIAL ATA RAID CONTROLLER
USER MANUAL
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TROUBLESHOOTING & TIPS - 29