700MB/sec 87,500 IOPS 80-640GB PCI-E x4 board is coming!

[mailint]

"The ioDrive™ is designed to deliver 87,500 IOPS (input/output per second @ 8K packets) per PCIe x4 card, while achieving sustained data rates of 700MB/sec (Read) and 600MB/sec (Write)"

More info here: http://www.fusionio.com/faq.html
Two video of the card and the benchmarks here: http://www.tgdaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34065

Cost will be about $30 for GB ($2400 for 80GB)

http://www.tgdaily.com/picturegalleries/20070926/_mg_7196.jpg

http://www.tgdaily.com/picturegalleries/20070926/_mg_7197.jpg

http://www.tgdaily.com/picturegalleries/20070926/_mg_7200.jpg

[riffraff]

Ouch,

Busineses only. Not ready for prime time(personal computers). Maybe in a couple of years. Looks interesting although I don't game so don't think I could ever utilize the product concept.

Bester

[mailint]

I agree. Excellent product but unaffordable price.

[webmaster]

DV Nation has been in talks with Fusion-IO about carrying this product and has been promised a post-beta model to evaluate. We presume we have been approved to sell it and hope we can offer it.

You can get 700MB/s by RAIDing 6X MTRON PRO SSDs. We have not done RAID testing with MTRON MOBI SSDs on our high-performance Areca 1231ML PCI-E controller just yet, but should yield great results as well.

But even one or two Memoright or MTRON SSDs is a big improvement over a 10,000RPM Raptor! Computer Power User Magazine tests show just one MTRON (and I'm talking about the older model, not the new ones we have in stock) to be up to TEN TIMES FASTER than 2X Raptors in RAID0 (depending on the test)

And now that you can get a 32GB SSD for the same price as a high-end graphics card, it makes sense for the high-end consumer. I'd rather have one of everything, than two of anything if I'm on a budget. One SSD for OS and favorite apps. One hard disk for data storage. One Nvidia 8800. Etc

Thank you so much for contributing to our forum at DV Nation: the only forum dedicated solely to solid state disk drives!

[davepermen]

I really like the current state of technology. we can buy terrabytes for cheap, and if we have the money, we can enhance the system performance to high (an SSD), very high (2, 3 of them) to extreme (this pcie card).

so for every money you get something worth the money. this is cool.

and, best of all, most of this works for mobile, too. great times.. can't wait for the larrabee times in the end of the year..

[mailint]

DV Nation has been in talks with Fusion-IO about carrying this product and has been promised a post-beta model to evaluate. We presume we have been approved to sell it and hope we can offer it.


Any news about "when" for the mass-production version?

[webmaster]

We were just told today (Sat, 1/19/07) that we can get an evaluation model in "a few weeks." The first models will work in LINUX ONLY, since Windows drivers have not been developed. By the end of Q2, Windows drivers should be available! This makes me think that if you want to buy one when it is first available, you can use it in Linux, then put that same drive into your Windows PC and run it with the Windows drivers...So, to sum the answer...Linux users, by the end of Q1 (March 31st). Windows users, by the end of Q2 (June 30).

[mailint]

Furthermore you cannot boot your system with the first hardware version.
I'll wait for the bootable version, to boot Windows on it!

[iJAC]

Is the windows version date still set for the end of june or has there been any updates of sooner?

[MikeEvans]

Pricing and Availability March 31/2008
The ioDrive is currently available at a cost of approximately $2400 for 80 GB, $4800 for 160 GB and $8900 for 320 GB.

[webmaster]

It will still be some time before the first samples reach the retail market. And those first samples will be for Linux machines. Windows machines next. No date yet. The pricing seems pretty firm. They keep repeating that $30 per GB price. I will make a posting just as soon as it becomes available. I want one for myself!

[mailint]

Before I'll buy it I'll wait for these features:
1) Windows compatibility
2) bootability (they said that they will make it act as a EIDE controller + EIDE disk)
3) AES-256bit hardware encryption with proprietary PIN/password input device (to bypass keyloggers)
4) price drop

[webmaster]

No. I called last week. No response. I'll try again this week. I cannot see the thread right now, but I think there is text in there saying that the IO-Drive was released in March.? That is not true. Some beta samples might have shipped already. I'm trying to get my hands on a post-beta. And it sounds like only Linux compatibility will be available at first, while they work on Windows drives second. I'll let you know as soon as I find something out..

[mailint]

No. I called last week. No response. I'll try again this week. I cannot see the thread right now, but I think there is text in there saying that the IO-Drive was released in March.? That is not true. Some beta samples might have shipped already. I'm trying to get my hands on a post-beta. And it sounds like only Linux compatibility will be available at first, while they work on Windows drives second. I'll let you know as soon as I find something out..

Thanks webmaster. Keep us updated!
I had an email exchange with them some months ago and they told me that Linux first, then Windows and the first version will not be bootable.

[webmaster]

What? Where? Please show me where it is actually available anywhere? And to answer iJac, I don't know when the Linux or Windows version will become available. The just revamped their entire website! So that makes me feel that the launch may be closer. I did see a new note saying that bootability will be a function to be added later.

[orbist]

Not sure when the actual release date is. 1st July being thrown around.

Have been participating in the beta program, helping resolve a few driver issues etc. Still only limited Linux support, and its some way short of the claimed IOPs. Sustained levels are not near the 'peak' claims.

However response time is stunning < 100us on read and <250us on write. Even at achievable sustained rates.

Windows biggest issue will be queue depth, as these cards are susceptable to over queuing pushing up higher response times.

[mailint]

Not sure when the actual release date is. 1st July being thrown around.

Have been participating in the beta program, helping resolve a few driver issues etc. Still only limited Linux support, and its some way short of the claimed IOPs. Sustained levels are not near the 'peak' claims.

However response time is stunning < 100us on read and <250us on write. Even at achievable sustained rates.

Windows biggest issue will be queue depth, as these cards are susceptable to over queuing pushing up higher response times.

Hi Orbist,

I am the person who started this thread and I'm very happy to see a beta tester here!
Do you have something to tell us about the data integrity in your experience? can it really sustain long times powered off without losing any data?

I currently use 3x I-RAM (normal RAM, not flash memory, but backed by a battery) and when I power off my machine for some seconds, then I power on, a CHKDSK on the disk always finds many errors...

Thanks in advance
Mailint

[orbist]

Hi,

Not had any problems in that area. There is no super-cap on the card (unlike most SSD products) as they only commit write completion when the data has made it onto flash. The journal is also maintained on flash, so there is no RAM on the card to require power backup. (Unlike other vendors, such as STEC, where I thought I'd broken a Zeus after leaving it wthout power for 2 weeks. It took several hours to re-charge the super cap before it would actually present itself as a valid drive! - In these cases the super-cap is used to dump in-memory writes to flash in the event of sudden power off) If the server containing the ioDrive crashes, it does require a re-scan of the journal upon next attach - but thats only on a kernel hang or unclean power off. A proper shutdown followed by power removal and the card is instantly available after attaching upon next power up.

We are working through various defects / problems with the software side of things - obviously I can't discuss, but they all look to be resolvable with time.

[mailint]

Thanks Orbist for all these interesting informations.

As I wrote before, as IT professional, given its cost I'll start to consider it, for my main workstation, when there will be Windows compatibility and bootability (functioning as EIDE controller + EIDE disk) and AES-256bit hardware encryption with proprietary PIN/password input device (to bypass keyloggers).

Can I know what you're corrently using as fast drive?
On dvnation.com homepage I see an horrible Stec Zeus bench. result of 33MB/s. Why did you buy it? :)

I'm using 3x 5.25" Gigabyte I-RAM in Window Vista sw stripe-set RAID, for a total of 12GB, and I'm happy with it for now. Cheap and fast. If you are interested I can copy and paste here the benchmark results I made time ago.

[mailint]

News of today from Fusion-io:
- Begun shipping the ioDrive in volume
- Announced a partnership with HP
- Announced a new CEO, Don Basile
- Closed $19M in Series A funding.

[orbist]

STEC should be capable of much more than 33MB/s - we've benchmarked at the claimed 200MB/s with 50,000 read IOPs and 19,000 write IOPs. - mixed drops to 10,000 iops.

There are many STEC models, we were using the ZeusIOPs -Mach8 or Mach4 do a lot less.

As for my home machine, I have no real need for such performance, a Samsung Spinpoint is enough :)

[Renfro]

Hi Orbist,

I'd like to ask you a pretty noobish question if I may.

Does the FusionIO appear as a standard bootable device in the BIOS?

and

Is there any means to prevent the FusionIO from being detected? (i.e. temporarily disable it).

I ask because there are many OSs that stupidly overwrite MBRs of devices that you have not given permission for, and the only way to prevent this from happening is to physically unplug the drive that you don't want affected (which is a total nuisance). This would be an even bigger nuisance if you had to unscrew and remove a card, so it would be handy if you could just temporarily disable the FusionIO and thus prevent it from being detected.

Just wondered if there was any such capability on the card.

Thanks.

[webmaster]

The IODrive does NOT YET appear as a bootable device in BIOS. So it is not bootable. The IODrive WILL become bootable later with a firmware upgrade due by the end of the year.

[orbist]

As stated above, its not yet a bootable device. I've not tried it under the beta Windows drivers to see how it works, but under Linux you can load the driver with an "auto_attach=0" option, which loads the driver but does not present the block device until you manually attach it. This is of course long after the OS boot stage, and the behaviour under Windows maybe different.

[webmaster]

We now have them for sale at http://www.dvnation.com/Fusion-IO-IODrive-SSD-Solid-State-Disk-Drive.html

The drive installs in any 64-BIT version of Windows as a mass storage controller. VERY EASY TO INSTALL.

We will post a review by the weekend.

[cheageMep]

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[webmaster]

Actually, Fusion-io has RAISED the price far above $30 per GB. But they plan to release an MLC version, 80GB for <$1000. There is no timeline for this release. 2009, maybe? Other manufacture's have announced PCI-E SSDs, and we plan to carry more models has they emerge.

[mailint]

>Other manufacture's have announced PCI-E SSDs<
This is great news!
Competition is what we need.

[webmaster]

Actually, no. Fusion-io raised their prices and will not let me publish them. They went WAY up. The good news is that they are developing an 80GB PCI-E SSD with the same high read speed with a target price of <$1000. There is no timeline for the release of that product.

[mystikmedia]

Sigh. Even higher prices. I was seriously considering a purchase when they released the bootable driver. Any word on that, btw?

[mailint]

Sigh. Even higher prices. I was seriously considering a purchase when they released the bootable driver. Any word on that, btw?
As IT professional, given its cost I'll start to consider it, for my main workstation, when there will be Windows compatibility and bootability (functioning as EIDE controller + EIDE disk) and AES-256bit hardware encryption with proprietary PIN/password input device (to bypass keyloggers).

[Turas]

Any word on if this is yet bootable?

[webmaster]

Pricing went up a long time ago. Current MSRP is $2995 for 80GB, 160GB is $7200, and 320GB is twice that. They are all available in about a one week lead time. They are working on speedy consumer grade PCI-E SSDs with the same read performance a 1/3rd the cost. The current gen is targeted at servers and has costly features built into that consumers might not need.

You may see competitive consumer brands in the PCI-E arena this year.
If you need performance, check out the new Solidata SSDs. With 240MB/S per SSD and capacities up to 512GB, you can RAID 4X of them and get about 1GB/S bandwith with capacity more than a single ioDrive. And you can scale-in. Buy one. When you can afford another, but it and RAID it, etc.
http://www.dvnation.com/SOLIDATA-SSD-Solid-State-Disk-Drive.html

[Turas]

That surprises me that the 320GB is twice the price of the 160 model since according to their site only the 80 and 160GB models use SLC and the 320GB model uses MLC.

[mailint]

From http://www.fusionio.com/PressDetails.php?id=69:

Fusion-io Announces the ioDrive Duo - The World's Fastest and Most Innovative SSD


ioDrive Duo Product Details

The following specifications describe the physical and performance characteristics of the ioDrive Duo.

PERFORMANCE
Based on PCI Express x8 or PCI Express 2.0 x4 standards, which can sustain up to 20 gigabits per-second (Gbytes/sec) of raw throughput, the ioDrive Duo has more than enough bandwidth to obtain industry-leading performance from a single card. The ioDrive Duo can easily sustain 1.5 Gbytes/sec of read bandwidth and nearly 200,000 read IOPS. Its performance metrics are as follows:

• Sustained read bandwidth: 1500 MB/sec (32k packet size)
• Sustained write bandwidth: 1400 MB/sec (32k packet size)
• Read IOPS: 186,000 (4k packet size)
• Write IOPS: 167,000 (4k packet size)
• Latency < 50 µsec


RELIABILITY
The ioDrive Duo offers unmatched solid-state protection for data integrity and reliability with triple redundancy for a single storage component.

• Multi-bit error detection and correction
• Patent-pending Flashback protection, offering chip-level N+1 redundancy and on-board self-healing so that no servicing is required
• Optional RAID-1 mirroring between two ioMemory modules on the same ioDrive Duo, offering complete redundancy on a single PCIe card

CAPACITY
The ioDrive Duo comes in the following capacities:

• 160 Gbytes
• 320 Gbytes
• 640 Gbytes
• 1.28 TB (second half of 2009)

The ioDrive Duo will be available in April 2009.

[Turas]

Yeah, but no word on whether it is bootable.