Jan 17, 2014 – SSD ’s (solid-state drives) have become more widespread in the storage world, mainly because of their lower access time and latency. This gives them an advantage compared to regular hard drives and make them particularly useful for hosting P5 Backup and Archive indices.
We have been using Elgato’s Thunderbolt SSD as well as the PROMISE Pegasus J2 during our VideoVisions tour and have seen how well this can work, even in a desktop Archive setup.
Improve P5 Backup & P5 Archive performance
Backup and Archive indices are at the heart of the P5’s functionality. The index manages all backed up and archived files, as well as the position of files on tape or disk. The archive index also manages metadata and previews.
While putting the entire Archive on SSD is not yet a feasible option for many, putting the index on SSD is. The performance increase this brings is significant. The search time within the index will be reduced several fold. In our internal testing we have seen a speed increase of two to three times. The added speed will also enhance the write time while running jobs.
Who should put an index on SSD?
SSD for P5 Backup
When running large backup jobs, an SSD can really make a difference. The effect is most significant with a large amount of files, opposed to jobs with just large files. Writing the index as well as searching through it will be a lot faster.
If you have many files in your backup, SSD brings more speed to your backup jobs.
SSD for P5 Archive
An Archive index on SSD makes most sense when searches within the archive are quite common. The user experience when browsing will definitely increase. If archive previews should also be stored on SSD is dependent on their size and growth.
If you frequently access your archive, SSD improves your search speed as well as speeding up the generation, load and display time.
Boost older hardware
When using servers that have their better days behind them, a SSD can be a rejuvenating element. Switching the sever disk can enhance disk space and CPU power. If the SSD is big enough, it can run the entire operating system as well as host the index. The performance increase of this enhanced setup will be significant.
Conclusion
As Backup and Archive volumes grow, so do the resources needed for indices and previews. SSD’s are nowhere near replacing regular disk or LTO tape for pure storage purposes, but they can bring significant improvement to the performance of your P5 Backup or Archive setup. SSD’s are still several times more expensive than hard drives at the same storage size, which suggests using them mainly for the backup and archive indices and maybe previews.
