Performance Tips - Promise Technology FastTrak TX2000 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 FastTrak TX2000 as D: or other non-bootable drive in a Striped Array
For A/V 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: drive (or later).
This will prevent file fragmentation and provide better accessibility to the array.
Re-Configure PCI Latency Setting
The PCI Latency setting appears in some Mainboard BIOS. The setting governs how much time
is allocated to service each PCI slot. Promise recommends a value of 64. An optimal value is
neither too high nor too low and will vary from system to system.
Optimize Array for "Performance"
The Promise FastBuild BIOS Utility autosetup menu allows optimizing the array for 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 page 19).
FastTrak (tm) / FastTrak TX2000 (tm) BIOS Version 1.xx (Build xxxx)
(c) 1995-2001 Promise Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Optimize Array for:
Typical Application usage:
Mode ................................................ Stripe
Stripe Block Size ....................................64
Drive used in Array...................................2
Array Disk Capacity..........................13044
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FastTrak TX2000™ Series User Manual
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Performance
A/V Editing
[ Auto Setup Configuration ]
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