Drive and Network Bandwidth
Spent some time bench marking some of my network file transfers and disk speeds. I'm really a little disappointed that Coolmax decided to only include an ATA-33 speed drive controller in that NAS enclosure. It really makes it almost useless for good speed transfers. It is only roughly 1/20th the speed of a local SATA-150 drive (granted, the 100Base TX network would limit it far before it got to that, but still, you could have over tripled the performance with an ATA-100 controller over a 100Base TX network, and the USB 2.0 480Mb/sec is basically wasted on this unit), and only about 1/13th the speed of a typical PATA-133 local drive. When you start talking video, that is getting pretty slow (only marginally faster than typical 54Mb 802.11g WiFi connections).

I may have to think about getting one of the Thecus 2100 Yes NAS with twin gigabit ethernet and dual SATA-150 drive support for some blinding fast network file support. But it costs $350, just for the bare enclosure...

I also took some time to create a RAM Drive and test that bandwidth. I chose a Windows XP compatible driver from SuperSpeed, and it is only a demo version.

Benchmarked Data Bandwidth Comparisons

Device	File System	Size (GB)	Interface	Cache (MB)	Speed (RPM)	Access Time (ms)	Sustained Read (MB/s)	Sustained Write (MB/s)
PC3200 CL3.0-3-3-8 DDR1 DRAM	RAM	2GB	Dual Channel	-	-	-	2584	2584
SuperSpeed RAM Drive Plus	RAM	1.2GB	Dual Channel PC3200	-	-	-	966	975
1000Base T	1000Base T	RAM	TCP/IP	-	-	0.3	54	54
100Base TX	100Base TX	RAM	TCP/IP	-	-	0.3	10	10
802.11g WiFi	54Mb/sec 802.11g	RAM	TCP/IP	-	-	1.7	2.3	2.3
Maxtor 6Y250M0	Local NTFS	250	SATA-150 RAID-0	8	7200	7	116	89
Maxtor 6Y200M0	Local NTFS	200	SATA-150 RAID-1	8	7200	7	90	84
Maxtor 6Y200M0	Local NTFS	200	SATA-150	8	7200	7	57	57
Maxtor 6Y200P0	Local NTFS	200	PATA-133	8	7200	7	41	38
Maxtor 6Y200M0	1000Base T NTFS	200	SATA-150	8	7200	7	37	34
Toshiba 20GB 2.5"	Local NTFS	20	PATA-33	0.5	5400	18	16	6
Maxtor 6Y200M0	100Base TX NTFS	200	SATA-150	8	7200	7	9	6
Coolmax CN-550 Seagate 9Y704G Barracuda	100Base TX FAT32 NAS	250	PATA-33	8	7200	7	3.1	3.0
Coolmax CN-550 IBM DeskStar DTLA-307030	100Base TX FAT32 NAS	30	PATA-33	2	7200	7	3.1	2.9

data above was taken with Sandra SiSoft 2005 SR3, and verified with raw file transfers.

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- posted by Jeff @ 12:16 AM | 1 comments

 
Networking "stuff"
I have always been fascinated by the potential and cool-ness of being able to network basic devices throughout the house. From hacked Tivo units to hacked Xbox consoles. Hacked Linksys wireless routers (versions identified) running embedded Linux, to HTPC units and NAS (Network Attached Storage). All of this, in addition to normal PC's, make it very easy to share/access information and data all through the house.

Well, I am going to try cracking my Linksys WRT54GS version 1.0 wireless router open and putting a hacked bios on it to enable all sorts of cool features (like making it able to be a wireless bridge/access point, boosting the power 300% for better connection, etc.). HyperWRT seems to be about the best open source BIOS right now for what I want (again, only works on Version 1.0-4.0 boxes...if your WRT54GS Serial number starts with CGN7 then you have a version 5.0, and Linksys has moved to the closed VxWorks BIOS rather than Linux and it won't work.

I also just bought a very interesting product, a Coolmax CN-550 NAS case that allows you to put/manage a UATA hard drive on your network and access it from anywhere on your network. It only supports single PATA drives and network speeds are only up to 100Mb, but it is cheap, has true NAS, FTP and TCP/IP web management as well as temp controlled fan and HDD spin down to keep it cool and quiet. A good review with more detailed info is also available.

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- posted by Jeff @ 11:03 AM | 12 comments

 
Fictional Reading
I have read quite a lot of books, and tend to lean toward the Sci-Fi end of the spectrum (Star Wars, Battle Tech, Issac Asimove, etc.), but also love many modern political thrillers and pretty much anything by Tom Clancy. But I have also tried a couple fantasy books recently, and Terry Brooks "Shannara" tales are ok, along with the much read "Lord of the Rings" and R.A. Salvatore's tales of the drow (Icewindale and such) are pretty good. But on some recommendations, I picked up "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin. Reviews were very positive about how good his books were and how complex and filled with great human motivations and political intrigue. Well, I'm almost done with it (but there are 3 more books in this "Song of Ice and Fire" line), and I have to say, it is a very good read with very good character and plot development as well as detailed and complex motives and political maneuvering. Worth a read, if you are looking for something new.

Ha! There, something that isn't electronic or computer/gadget related!
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- posted by Jeff @ 12:13 AM | 0 comments