OCZ Vertex 4 SSD Benchmark on Linux

Posted on 2012/05/11 by Luke Hollins

Just got one of these OCZ Vertext 4 SSDs to replace an Agility model which was pretty amazing. The write speed is advertised as slower but more consistent with different kinds of data. bonnie++ run:

Note you should update the firmware on this drive before using it, they doubled the write speed on some models recently. I installed version 1.4RC before formatting the drive. You can get it here: http://www.ocztechnology.com/ssd_tools/OCZ_Vertex_4/ The only bad part is they don’t have an updater for Linux or iOS, I had to use a friends windows box to run it.

Version 1.96       ——Sequential Output—— –Sequential Input- –Random-
Concurrency   1     -Per Chr- –Block– -Rewrite- -Per Chr- –Block– –Seeks–
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP /sec %CP
lwhLT        32008M 1197 99 409495 35 192164 24 5096 99 525269 33 +++++ +++
Latency             11844us     168ms     682ms    5126us    4138us    4739us
Version 1.96       ——Sequential Create—— ——–Random Create——–
lwhLT               -Create– –Read— -Delete– -Create– –Read— -Delete–
files /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP
16 30326 50 +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++
Latency               109us     439us     382us      75us      20us     115us

If you have never used an SSD I would look for a cheap SF-2281 or Indilinx 60-64GB they can be found for $50-70 now. Assuming you aren’t lacking in RAM or have a five year old CPU, its the single biggest noticable upgrade you can make to a computer. A browser loading in a split second becomes the new normal. Copying an 8GB virtual machine image? Don’t go get a coffee, its done in 20 seconds.

OCZ Agility 3 SSD on Linux (Fedora, benchmark too)

Posted on 2011/12/15 by Luke Hollins

This is the 60GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD , with an ext4 fs. I have been using it as my root disk on Fedora 15 for a while now. This one’s an RMA replacement , the first one was BSOD city on another machine and wouldn’t even get detected by my machine’s BIOS. This one has had so issues and supposedly OCZ’s fixed their SF-2281 based drives.

It gets 480-500MB/s with iozone. But I think it was using RAM caching (some tests got 8000MB/s).

Bonnie++

Version  1.96       ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
Concurrency   1     -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP  /sec %CP
luke3b       23944M   558  99 417552  40 177055  30  3452  99 413390  36 11994 213
Latency             29208us     127ms     471ms    4298us   27165us    8710us
Version  1.96       ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
luke3b              -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
              files  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP
                 16 28093  45 +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++
Latency               245us    1412us     421us     240us      10us     127us
1.96,1.96,luke3b,1,1323718388,23944M,,558,99,417552,40,177055,30,3452,99,413390,36,11994,213,16,,,,,28093,45,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,29208us,127ms,471ms,4298us,27165us,8710us,245us,1412us,421us,240us,10us,127us

Seagate 4TB 7200rpm ST4000DX000 on Linux

Posted on 2011/11/01 by Luke Hollins

I just got one of these, it’s ripped out of a GoFlex drive.Had to use parted , delete mbr with a gpt table then create fs. This was using ext4 of the whole disk

/dev/sdd1 3845708808 200704 3650157272 1% /mnt

bonnie++ output (16G file, I have 8G mem)

Version 1.96       ——Sequential Output—— –Sequential Input- –Random-
Concurrency   1     -Per Chr- –Block– -Rewrite- -Per Chr- –Block– –Seeks–
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP /sec %CP
lwhx4g          16G   769 97 166652 25 72258 22 3324 88 194838 24 327.4 11
Latency             19333us     495ms     455ms   33401us   74877us     211ms
Version 1.96       ——Sequential Create—— ——–Random Create——–
lwhx4g              -Create– –Read— -Delete– -Create– –Read— -Delete–
files /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP
16 12650 18 +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++
Latency               105us    1317us     370us     148us      45us     200us
1.96,1.96,lwhx4g,1,1320187623,16G,,769,97,166652,25,72258,22,3324,88,194838,24,327.4,11,16,,,,,12650,18,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,19333us,495ms,455ms,33401us,74877us,211ms,105us,1317us,370us,148us,45us,200us

Steve Jobs Was Right

Posted on 2011/06/16 by Luke Hollins

I hate to agree, but Flash sucks, it’s always sucked and it will never stop sucking. It doesn’t belong on any low-powered device where battery life is a concern and leaking memory is unacceptable. Flash is the only thing that consistently crashes my phones. I’ve overclocked them 150% , installed questionable kernel versions and test apps that I was sure would cause a crash. But again and again, Flash on websites always crashes.

But what does work amazing? Not apps. The open web. Yeah it doesn’t look that great in many cases. But mobile apps are a step backwards. Remember when the PC/Mac app users gradually moved to using the web instead of apps? The gradual move away from vendor-lockin, multiple compilers/targets, inability to view your own data and general incompatibility is bound to come to phones as well. The question is how long will it take?

Asus F Series Notebooks – Get an F !

Posted on 2010/12/29 by Luke Hollins

Shortly after I had my Asus F3 notebook repaired for cracks all over the body, the screen died. Lucky for me it was not yet past warranty , so yet again I sent it away to be fixed. Asus Markham repair facility was incredibly fast, I got the thing back two days after sending it to them. They replaced the motherboard and LCD, so I’ve now got a “new”-ish F3 that should crack and fail soon…

I’ve used Asus stuff and relied on it heavily , I had problems with one model of motherboard but shrugged it off a bit and kept buying their stuff. I have machines that ran 24/7 for years using their parts. The service I got was great, but the quality level of the notebook has been so disappointing that the last few times I’ve bought parts , when I normally would go into a category and just pick between the Asus models, I’m finding I now look at and buy other brands.

Addendum.. I didn’t even wait for the F to fail, I took it apart sold the body and mainboard AS-IS and sold the parts I knew were okay like the CPU, RAM , HDD. I have since started buying Gigabyte UD model motherboards and trying graphics card vendors randomly. I also ended up buying a Sony notebook of similar price and specs, an overpowered CPU model with a crap screen and nothing special, but so far it’s much better than the Asus F series.