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I'm running a server with 3 RAID5 arrays through an ARECA 1880i coupled with a HP-SAS Expander. After experiencing a massive degradation in performance lately, I want to benchmark the drives individually without breaking the array. The arrays consist of 6x2TB drives each.

How would I go on about achieving this?

The server is currently Windows-based (although I question the relevance of further system-info).

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Unfortunately it is not possible, because RAID controller builds array at a low level, so OS cannot reach physical disks.

There is only one method, AFAIK 1) Remove a disk from one of arrays (array will degrade, but not break) 2) Test it somewhere else 3) Put it back to the server 4) Rebuild array 5) GOTO 1 with different drive.

If you are using software RAID, it's possible to test disk performance without degrading.

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  • Do you know of any way of benchmarking a drive without altering it's contents?
    – habitats
    Jul 4, 2013 at 11:33
  • If you need to test read/write performance the only way is to write to the raw disk, so data will be destroyed. If you need to test only read performance, you can find some software nearby - on superuser.com
    – StamPit
    Jul 4, 2013 at 12:20
  • OK, I'll check it out. Can't upvote your answer because it requires 15 rep, would've done it otherwise. Thanks.
    – habitats
    Jul 4, 2013 at 14:12

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