1- You need to change the boot options to allow this…

Since i use debian lenny, my boot options look like this in /boot/grub/menu.lst

title        Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-2-686
root        (hd0,1)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-2-686

We need to append ramdisk_size=1572864 if we wanted a 1.5GB RAM drive, make sure you have 1.5GB EXTRA on your system, let’s say you must have a minimum of 2GB for the system to run using the 512MB you are leaving the system with

title        Debian 1.5GB Ramdisk, kernel 2.6.26-2-686
root        (hd0,1)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet ramdisk_size=1572864
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-2-686

You are done for now, if you want to format and use it do this

/sbin/mkfs.ext2 /dev/ram0

Remember that you need to format as ext2 and not ext3, i have seen people format the hard drive as EXT3, why would you ever need Journaling on a RAM disk that is already volatile (Deleted when you reboot)

mkdir /ramdisk
mount /dev/ram0 /ramdisk

You can now get creative and format or load a disk image at boot time, in any case, the RAM is only allocated to the disk when you use it, but you really don’t need to know that to use your new RAM hard disk

NOTE: I chose to explain RAM disk because later on i will show you what advantages we can get from having a block level device, you can surely do this without modifying boot options by simply using tempfs or RAMFS that give you an instant ram disk, but it is not a block level device in that case

Testing Speed

So, you want to see how fast it is, but for that we need a data source that can push this thing to the maximum, the answer is /dev/zero that responds with a stream of zeros, so let us write a 1.3GB file to our new volatile hard disk

dd if=/dev/zero of=/ramdisk/pathtoimage.img bs=1M count=1300

On my computer, this took about 4.54006 seconds.

So i have a database under processing where the problem is supposed to be “Latency and seek time”, so i went and got the SanDisk 16GB extreme that is supposed to be 20MB/s read and 18MB/s write, and surely, like all flash drives, no latency.

The performance was very very slow, it is probably a problem with USB or the USB controllers that work that flash memory.

Anyway, if you want to work a database from a USB flash disk, save those $85 (What i paid for the flash disk), you are better off with a SATA hard disk or even an ATA 133. but nothing USB.

On windows, You can use speedfan, under linux you can read the smart data as follows

Use the smartctl command

1- Checking for smart support, (All recent hard drives have it but you need to enable it in BIOS)

smartctl -i /dev/sdb

2- Enable reading it

smartctl -s on -d ata /dev/sdb

See it

smartctl -d ata -H /dev/sdb

Read more

smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sdb

Now some manufacturer specific smart atributes exist, you need to google them out, Also smart is not definitive, if S.M.A.R.T data says ok but there is a ticking noise in your hard drive, Don’t trust the hardware data, get backup.

Some hard drives like the Samsung Spinpoint come with extensive diagnostics software, My 3 2.5′ disks pass the test, pass the smart test, and tick when warm, i will let you know if it was the tick of death sometime soon

I already have hundreds of data DVDs and CDs, What i do is, i make an ISO file from the data CD or DVD, store it on the network and then mount it from there on any OS.

Most (All the ones i know of) linux distributions can mount an ISO file, Under Windows, i found this very nice utility that is also free called Virtual Clone Drive (Others may exist).

Install that, Double click any ISO and then you will find it in My Computer Area of your personal computer.

The only question that remains is, are DVDs and CDs worth it ?

1- When doing the math, you might be tempted to devide the price by the number of GBs and see the cost per GB, this is not very accurate, for every 4 or 6 disks need a computer to host them right ?

You can also use NAS enclosures to do the magic right ? yes you can and for this example i will do the math with a NAS enclosure

At the time of writing, the seagate 1.5 TB costs $130, That is around 8.5 cents per GB (Impressive).
Add to that the price of a NAS enclosure for about 40 Dollars (If you have extra SATA ports on your PC or network this is not necessary). the cost per GB becomes. ((130 + 40) / 1500) = 11 Cents per GB !

But is that cheaper than DVD ?

Last time i got DVDs, they were 20 Cents each, this means they cost around 5 Cents per GB.
So, no doubt, that today, DVDs are cheaper than disk space, but the question remains, can the low cost of a DVD justify its use ? they are harder to manage, but they do have advantages,

1- Security, If it is stored away from light, Humitdity and other things, you can’t loase data that is on a DVD like you can lose data on a hard disk, Hard disks are very reliable, But never as reliable as a DVD.

2- Cheaper, as we have just seen.

3- Portable, You can carry them around easily

4- they come in smaller chunks, you can not lend 2 GBs of your hard drive to your friend

So, DVDs may still have there place (And other forms of optical storage), for me, i would go the hard disk route, and when i need a DVD i can just burn one from the ISO files on the hard drive.

NOTE – If you go the hard drive route, the cost doubles if you want to back up your data !

Connected directly to my eVGA – nVIDIA nForce motherboard 630i/7150, Windows reports the hard disk on Windows experience index as 5.9 (Not bad for a 7200 RPM disk).
high resolution photos of the WD1001FALS.

.

Now to experience with this drive.

I have owned it for some time now, and i have used it for some time too.

I like western digital and have been a loyal customer since the 90s, they don’t break down on me like most other brands.

Western digital already released the 2TB green hard drive (Yes, you heard it right two terra bytes), but since this is the black edition (Performance), 1TB is still the maximum you can get from this category.

The hard disk has 32MB cache, and a sustained buffer to disk sustained transfer rate of 106 MB/s, Yes, the B is in capital letter, this is around 1000+ Mbit per second.

the 3 plates/disks and 6 heads (2 per disk one above and one below) make it heavy, and to eutelise more of this the hard disk needs a good processor, Western digital claims it uses a Dual Core Processor. but is the marvell chip

M (Marvell)
88i8845E-BHY2
YPME349AU
0805 D0PS
TW

really a dual processor ? Searching the marvell website (marvell.com) yields no result for this processor, Not much is available on the internet about the 88ixxxx processor range…

StableTrac (Motor shaft held at both ends), NoTouch ramp load technology, and Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) are features of the drive according to Western Digital.

Tests. In a few minutes while i see them

So, it may be the fastest to go with your mybook with esata, it is fast, but has many shortcomings.

To begin with, you can not boot your laptop from this card, you can if you install a software boot loader but the hardware is not bootable.

This card worked fine with a sata port multiplier by silicon image, unlike many other sata controllers.

2 LEDs are there showing disk activity, but remember that although they say it gives you a 3MBit connection to the hard drive, the maximum of the connection is much less having the expresscard bus as a bottelneck, even worse, both hard drives will have to share that expresscard bus !

All in all i am happy with the product if it were not for the boot issue.