Re: SSD-RAID for new wide-field microscopy system

Posted by Zdenek Svindrych-2 on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/SSD-RAID-for-new-wide-field-microscopy-system-tp7589536p7589548.html

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Thanks for the update, Mike!
I've missed the moment they grew to usable size (2 TB only, though). And
RAID controllers are quite affordable, too. So a decent 8 TB fast storage
(4 x 860 EVO 2TB, PCIe x16 controller) would come at $1800. Would handle
two cameras easily.
Need to remember this in case we do some upgrades.
Best, zdenek

On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 11:06 AM Michael Giacomelli <
[hidden email]> wrote:

> *****
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> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi Zdenek,
>
> SATA SSDs have been obsolete for a while now.  PCIe 3.0 NVME devices
> have a bidirectional 4GB/s transfer rate.  For smaller acquisitions,
> any cheap device will be protocol limited (> 3GB/s), but only for the
> first 50-100GB, and they'll drop down to about 1GB/s as the disk fills
> up.  More expensive devices can sustain closer to 2GB/s over the
> entire space.  Very expensive devices will sustain 3GB/s, but there is
> no point with RAID.  Just buy another disk and you get more capacity
> and the same bandwidth for less.
>
> By the way, now that SSD storage is hitting $100/TB, and PCIe 4.0
> devices are about to launch, affordable devices with 6-7 GB/s
> bandwidth in a single drive shouldn't be too far away.  I think pretty
> soon there will be little point in RAID; parallelism will be internal
> to the "disk".
>
> Mike
>
> On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 10:52 AM Zdenek Svindrych <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
> >
> > *****
> > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.umn.edu_cgi-2Dbin_wa-3FA0-3Dconfocalmicroscopy&d=DwIFaQ&c=kbmfwr1Yojg42sGEpaQh5ofMHBeTl9EI2eaqQZhHbOU&r=0LyF_z8oU1XGGyisIeOIXyIGIM5IYb3NcLjxHjUca5Y&m=QQs8Y17ATbc0ymJwJplCIBmeOhYv7aHFM68KU966354&s=7y0U_-tpAhO9gQanIo1BngyWx9ur1ny6Ctwdzd0rQv8&e=
> > Post images on
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.imgur.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=kbmfwr1Yojg42sGEpaQh5ofMHBeTl9EI2eaqQZhHbOU&r=0LyF_z8oU1XGGyisIeOIXyIGIM5IYb3NcLjxHjUca5Y&m=QQs8Y17ATbc0ymJwJplCIBmeOhYv7aHFM68KU966354&s=__SRaWSmRiycUG3SBFXuuAhfxcv3RJUdfkrkUwovNAM&e=
> and include the link in your posting.
> > *****
> >
> > Hi Mike,
> > where did you get the numbers? Regular SSDs I've seen are around 500
> MB/s,
> > both read and write. And SATA III speed is around 600 MB/s!
> > That's not quite enough even for a single 10-tap CameraLink camera (800
> > MB/s).
> > SSD RAID may seem an overkill, but you don't want to sacrifice speed just
> > because of poor PS specs... Of course RAID 0 array of regular hard drives
> > should work too, but the probability of data loss (due to failure of one
> of
> > the disks) rises with number of disks.
> > Best, zdenek
> >
> > On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 10:14 AM Michael Giacomelli <
> > [hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> > > *****
> > > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.umn.edu_cgi-2Dbin_wa-3FA0-3Dconfocalmicroscopy&d=DwIFaQ&c=kbmfwr1Yojg42sGEpaQh5ofMHBeTl9EI2eaqQZhHbOU&r=0LyF_z8oU1XGGyisIeOIXyIGIM5IYb3NcLjxHjUca5Y&m=QQs8Y17ATbc0ymJwJplCIBmeOhYv7aHFM68KU966354&s=7y0U_-tpAhO9gQanIo1BngyWx9ur1ny6Ctwdzd0rQv8&e=
> > > Post images on
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.imgur.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=kbmfwr1Yojg42sGEpaQh5ofMHBeTl9EI2eaqQZhHbOU&r=0LyF_z8oU1XGGyisIeOIXyIGIM5IYb3NcLjxHjUca5Y&m=QQs8Y17ATbc0ymJwJplCIBmeOhYv7aHFM68KU966354&s=__SRaWSmRiycUG3SBFXuuAhfxcv3RJUdfkrkUwovNAM&e=
> and include the link in your posting.
> > > *****
> > >
> > > How fast are you acquiring data?
> > >
> > > Entry level SSDs are about $120/TB (~1GB/s write) while high
> > > performance SSDs are $250/TB (~2.5 GB/s write).  Since SSDs are very
> > > inexpensive, that $6000 is probably getting you more than just a
> > > couple hundred dollars worth of disks?
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > > On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 9:49 AM Mirco Martino <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > *****
> > > > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> > > >
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.umn.edu_cgi-2Dbin_wa-3FA0-3Dconfocalmicroscopy&d=DwIFaQ&c=kbmfwr1Yojg42sGEpaQh5ofMHBeTl9EI2eaqQZhHbOU&r=0LyF_z8oU1XGGyisIeOIXyIGIM5IYb3NcLjxHjUca5Y&m=wrk9nduuxxvkAtGOYqFJUAMGuGZJXQE7KSXKZ5WXt60&s=nX-3b6XyV2FiCHG_jHCWfrh-myCWr2GfKF7MI_5dSkw&e=
> > > > Post images on
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.imgur.com&d=DwIFaQ&c=kbmfwr1Yojg42sGEpaQh5ofMHBeTl9EI2eaqQZhHbOU&r=0LyF_z8oU1XGGyisIeOIXyIGIM5IYb3NcLjxHjUca5Y&m=wrk9nduuxxvkAtGOYqFJUAMGuGZJXQE7KSXKZ5WXt60&s=8uWKgCTHkbrb5Qy2tlQNRbo4HsPItFv_9ukvDnBgNPo&e=
> > > and include the link in your posting.
> > > > *****
> > > >
> > > > Hi all,
> > > >
> > > > we are buying a new fluorescent microscope wide-field system. The
> system
> > > include a workstation with 64GB DDR4 RAM, 11GB of graphic card, 512 gb
> of
> > > memory and SSD-RAID of 2TB. There is an option to increase the
> SSD-RAID to
> > > 4TB for  about 6000$ extra. The system will be use for both fixed
> materiel
> > > imaging and for live-imaging with time-laps, z-stack, tiling and
> > > multi-fluorophores experiments. I was wondering if it is worth to
> invest
> > > those extra money for this option or not. This will be the first time
> we
> > > will have time-laps experiments, so I don't know what to expect as
> pictures
> > > size.
> > > >
> > > > What do you think?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks in advance for your comments and opinions!
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > --
> > Zdenek Svindrych, Ph.D.
> > Research Associate - Imaging Specialist
> > Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
> > Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
>


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Zdenek Svindrych, Ph.D.
Research Associate - Imaging Specialist
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth