StorgaeWorks Speed

[Shon Garzan]

I have a New HP StorageWorks 1/8 G2 Tape Drive with Autoloader connected to Windows2003 Server with SCSI DLV connector. I suppose to get atleast 200 GB per hour for Backup speed but getting only 40. What can be done to miximize the speed?

Thanks
Shon Garzan
IT/Cad Solutions
703.629.9062
sgarzan@cox.net

[thomas rush]

Most often, today's fast tape drives' speed is limited by the speed of the disk feeding them data. Small files, deeply nested directories, and contention for the disk heads can limit tape drive performance even on servers with fast CPU and otherwise fast disk.

The first diagnostic step is to test how fast your disks can supply data to your tape. Download HP's free Library and Tape Tools (http://www.hp.com/go/tape has a link at the bottom of the page) for your platform, install it, and then run the disk read test on the partition in question. If you get speeds over 60MB/sec (198GB/hour) then your disk is not the problem; proceed to the tape write/read tests.

If your tape drive doesn't work at the advertised speed for writes and reads through Library and Tape Tools, then:
Check for firmware updates.
Use your operating system's performance
monitoring tools to check CPU, RAM, system
bus, and network bandwidth for usage
patterns and signs of bottlenecks.
See if your drive needs cleaning.

If the read of your disks averages only about 10MB/sec (40GB/hour) then your options include optimizing your file system (defragment, adjust caching, modify RAID structure); buying faster disk; or performing an image backup instead of a filesystem backup.

Good luck!


thomas.

[Shon Garzan]

Thank you!