Single disk: -------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 100 918 85.0 1646 21.6 776 36.1 877 86.9 1859 82.1 33.6 5.6 -------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU single H 512 903 90.8 1612 31.8 785 37.1 862 85.7 1777 78.6 18.9 4.68k stripe across both disks:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 2 disk 100 904 58.6 1886 35.6 831 61.4 775 80.9 1659 76.9 47.2 12.2 -------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 2 disk 512 859 55.8 1826 56.3 794 53.5 843 86.7 1696 79.4 26.6 10.4Running simultaneously on both disks, with a single file system on each one:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 1 disk 256 447 33.2 1063 25.2 458 29.6 439 48.5 1041 47.4 19.1 3.9 -------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 1 disk 256 454 32.3 1035 22.4 427 31.0 422 48.1 845 67.7 25.2 6.1two-disk stripe on Adaptec 2940 PCI controller (with kernel compile on another disk). Compare this to the "8k stripe" result above.
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 1128 69.6 2111 12.9 1291 15.2 945 75.9 4160 19.7 31.1 1.7Looks like the PCI controller is a win! WD 24300 Caviar 4.3G IDE hard drive
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 100 2334 87.6 3723 56.9 1419 11.0 2087 74.6 3089 11.3 131.4 3.8P2 266 96MB ram, quantum bigfoot 4.3GB IDE
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 3653 90.2 5251 6.0 2590 7.9 3654 83.3 6113 5.2 61.2 0.9Sony VAIO N505VE 64MB ram, celeron 333, 6GB IDE
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 4238 97.9 5507 7.2 2749 7.1 3505 79.0 5443 4.4 51.0 0.7P2 266 on FIC P2XLX/e mobo, 96MB ram, maxtor 15GB IDE 5400 rpm
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 1563 86.6 2399 80.8 1109 85.7 1512 88.1 2248 85.0 66.9 20.0Something's not right - these numbers suck! OK, managed to get dma enabled (don't know why I have to use hdparm) and now things look a little better:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 2471 93.9 5956 87.6 2239 82.3 2148 89.5 3873 75.4 74.6 12.0I'm still surprised as hell that the VAIO smokes this machine in so many categories. I guess it does have a lot more CPU than this machine does, but I wouldn't expect that to matter for block I/O. Go figure. (I found out later that the DMA support was unreliable so it would cause an error somewhere during the test and the kernel would turn DMA off) P2 266 96MB, Western Digital Caviar 4.3GB as a slave on the same bus as the 15GB maxtor above:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 2808 71.9 3124 5.6 1210 4.7 2386 55.5 3132 4.6 54.1 0.8UDMA comes up enabled by default with this drive; seems to use very little CPU. I think that something's wrong with the DMA support on the maxtor drive. P2 266 96MB, Western Digital Caviar 30GM 7200RPM as a slave on the same bus as the 15GB maxtor above:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 2885 71.2 3349 3.8 1571 4.6 2959 67.3 3188 2.3 100.4 1.4not bad, although not a huge improvement over the 15GB drive. (Again, DMA was getting turned off during the run)
My spiffy new AMD Athlon 1.2GHz machine:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 3752 38.1 5711 19.0 2252 45.9 3037 93.4 4343 15.9 132.2 0.4The VAIO still rules, guess I've got to look into DMA issues (yet again). OK, here are the results after
hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda :
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 512 10628 91.9 27738 12.6 11609 11.7 9415 80.5 27703 11.1 128.9 0.6 -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 1024 10663 94.9 21372 9.9 10513 10.2 10162 88.6 23900 8.8 116.9 0.4A new king of the hill, by a longshot. DMA is your friend.
An upgraded "poohpa", PII-450, 128MB PC-133 RAM, Western Digital Caviar 30GM 7200RPM, dma enabled:
-------Sequential Output-------- ---Sequential Input-- --Random-- -Per Char- --Block--- -Rewrite-- -Per Char- --Block--- --Seeks--- Machine MB K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU K/sec %CPU /sec %CPU 256 4288 63.9 14183 13.4 2997 6.5 5163 70.6 8610 5.8 126.3 1.1Yup, that's the stuff.