HDD performance comparisons
This section provides performance results of comparisons between HDD interface types, form factors,
and platter speeds. Other factors such as operating system, application environment, controller type,
RAID strategy, and general workload also play a part in system performance and should be
considered when evaluating systems.
Performance comparison between SATA and SAS drives
Systems that support SAS can be configured with a mix of SAS and SATA drives
4
, although
performance goals are more easily achieved using SAS drives. Figures 1 through 3 are plots of
performance data from tests of SATA drives (non-NCQ and NCQ) and SAS drives using the following
configuration:
•
System: HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array
•
SAS Controller: HP Smart Array P400, firmware version 4.12, 512 MB cache, RAID 1
Figure 1.
Relative performance: sequential operations of non-NCQ SATA, NCQ SATA, and SAS
2-drive array with HP Smart Array P400 Controller, RAID 1
Sequential Operations, RAID 1 (128 KB)
0%
100%
200%
300%
400%
500%
600%
700%
800%
900%
1000%
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
1
2
4
8
1
6
3
2
6
4
4KB SEQ READ
64KB SEQ READ
512KB SEQ READ
1MB SEQ READ
4KB SEQ WRITE
64KB SEQ WRITE
512KB SEQ WRITE
REL
ATIVE PERF
ORMA
NCE (
%
)
IOMETER 07.30.2004
SATA, Non-NCQ 60-GB, 5.4K, 25/75 R/W cache (baseline performance level)
SATA, NCQ 120-GB, 5.4K, 25/75 R/W cache
SAS, 72-GB, 15K, 25/75 R/W cache
4
Mixing SATA and SAS drives within a logical drive is NOT allowed.
5