Accusys: RAID With Eight 2.5-inch Intel 240GB SSDs

Accusys Inc.‘s ExaSAN ships new 2.5" 8-bay RAID system B08S2-PS with Intel 335 SSD.

B08S2 is a member of ExaSAN storage family. Adopting PCIe 2.0 technology, B08S2 provides 20Gb bandwidth and stable performance. Weighing 5kg (11 pounds), this B08S2-PS is small and compact, easily fits in any transportable cart systems for on-set, on-location, or near-set makes a solution for use by IT for ingest, copy, and post-production work.

Unlike other small form factor storage, the B08S2-PS takes advantage of using PCIe protocol throughout the storage path. The 20Gb bandwidth is 20Gb throughout. There is no PCIe to FC conversion eliminating any protocol conversion delays. This factor makes it be capable to reach 1,400/1,300MB/s for read/write, respectively.

B08S2-PS bundle includes eight 2.5-inch Intel 335 SSD (240GB) drives; this provides 1.9TB of raw storage space, and 1.5TB under RAID-5. Other capacities are available at higher cost. SSDs from Intel have proven to be solid performers in a high performance RAID environment.

The B08S2-PS was developed with the changing workflow in mind where much editing work is done closer and closer to where powerful cameras capture content. On-set and on-location are words heard often as producers and directors realize cost and time savings, for example, from creating dailies on-location.

Powerful and demanding applications require performance storage to enable completion of dailies and make final decisions before shooting starts the next day. The B08S2-PS works well with demanding editing applications from companies such as Autodesk Media and Entertainment software, Adobe Creative Suit, DaVinci Resolve and, Assimilate Scratch.

2K DPX files for film require about 300MB/s where 4K DPX may require up to 1,300MB/s performance from storage. The B08S2-PS bundle can provide 1,400MB/s read and 1,300MB/s write to play multiple 2K as well as 16b 4K DPX.

The  features include performance equalization mode (EQ). This reduces the fluctuation between data transfer speeds over time so that the likelihood of potential frame drops are minimized which is a great thing. Another feature called disk lag proof (DLP) computes the RAID algorithm of weakening/failing drives (that may require multiple retries) preventing the data transfer delays caused by the deteriorating drives enabling the actual data transfer to complete even before the weak drive has successfully completed retries.