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MP 7,1 PROMISE Pegasus32 R4 16TB RAID vs J2i - Transfer Speed
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The Pegasus R4i for sure since it's on the PCIe bus. Assume you are looking for storage and not ultimate speed. I will be using a J2i type cage with 2.5" SSDs. Why? Because I have them left over from my cMP 5,1 and want to repurpose them. It looks like you are looking for massive storage.
However, HDDs will never come close to SSDs in speeds no matter the bus.
Lou
However, HDDs will never come close to SSDs in speeds no matter the bus.
Lou
choreo mentioned the Promise Pegasus32 R4 (an external thunderbolt 3 RAID enclosure) and not the Promise Pegasus R4i (an internal MPX module on the PCIe bus). So choreo, is that what you intended?
With that said, SATA III (used by the J2i) has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 6Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 (used by the Pegasus32 R4) on the other hand has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 40Gps. However, that's just one link in the chain. There's drive speed, cable speed, enclosure speed, and connection interface speed.
So choreo, in order to answer your question, we need a bit more information. What drives are you planning on using (most notably HDD or SSD)? For an external option, what connection interface are you planning on using (eg. USB 3.1 Rev 1 or Rev 2, or Thunderbolt 3)?
With that information you can start making decisions. See WILL THUNDERBOLT MAKE MY DRIVES FASTER? for a good explanation of the effects of the various factors. Be aware for example that what solution you select may make no difference if the slowest link in the chain is the drive(s).
You are correct. I know the R4i would be faster, but I am considering the external Pegasus32 R4 with (4) 4TB spinning drives in a RAID 5 configuration connected via Thunderbolt 3.
Ok then! So first please understand I'm no expert. I'm just collating data that I find, so take it with a grain of salt. Second then see the TweakTown Pegasus 32 R4 review. You can skim through it, but jumping to the RAID 5 testing, they got 567 MB/s and 643 MB/s for read and write, respectively.
Checking out the J2i 9to5mac review, their speed test rang in at around 234 MB/s and 217 MB/s for read and write, respectively. However, that was with just the one 8TB disk it came with. On the other hand, the J2i only supports two drives (at least without a pile of finagling), so you wouldn't be running RAID 5 with it. Also, sticking in two drives and running them RAID 0 is not likely to beat the Pegasus 32 R4!
So to answer your question, from my quick analysis the external Pegasus32 R4 is going to beat the internal J2i as far as read/write speed.
As previously mentioned, there is of course the Pegasus R4i. I didn't bother checking the performance of that. (I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader...
)
^^^^Misread - Sorry The above post is correct. But, the R4i beats them all. And, Promise makes you buy the drives with the external enclosure👎 As much as I dislike OWC, they have an external RAID enclosure where you add your own drives:
eshop.macsales.com
Lou
The above post is correct. But, the R4i beats them all. And, Promise makes you buy the drives with the external enclosure👎 As much as I dislike OWC, they have an external RAID enclosure where you add your own drives:
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad RAID 5 Four-Bay Enclosure
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad RAID 5 Four-Bay External Storage Enclosure. Featuring SoftRAID XT. Add your own drives! USB-C and USB-A cables included.
Lou
Unfortunately it looks like that OWC enclosure supports only USB-C Gen 2 speeds (10 Gbps) and not thunderbolt 3 speeds (40Gbps).^^^^Misread - Sorry
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad RAID 5 Four-Bay Enclosure
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad RAID 5 Four-Bay External Storage Enclosure. Featuring SoftRAID XT. Add your own drives! USB-C and USB-A cables included.
Lou
Yeah, all that throughput mumbo jumbo needs to stand up to real-world testing for sure. :/ For example, the Mercury Elite Pro is specified as having a maximum transfer rate of 1250 MB/s using USB 3.1 Gen 2. However, it then specifies a maximum performance of 947MB/s. Check out this review of the Elite Pro quad. The measured rate for 4 1TB disks was 630 MBps and 600 MBps for read and write, respectively. That doesn't sound like 947MB/s to me. (Perhaps that "max" was for SSDs, or as the review states, for larger more performant Toshiba drives, but I'd like to see actual data...)
The Pegasus32 R4 on the other hand states that it supports both Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 Gen 2. And yet from the review I quoted, it had a transfer rate of 567 MB/s and 643 MB/s for read and write, respectively. (I suspect the key point for the R4 is that it also supports a display connection, so all that "extra" Thunderbolt 3 performance is possibly to support that, rather than the disks.)
And I agree, with HDD things are capped more severely anyway. Things might be more interesting if we compared SSD throughput between the two boxes, but that's significantly more expensive.
I've got the stock 8TB SSD in the J2i alongside a Samsung 860 PRO which I get read and writes of just over 500.
The stock drive in the J2i is a hard drive and not an SSD. So what r/w speed do you see for the hard drive? (An SSD I can imagine would be faster.)
[edit] Note that an 8TB SSD goes for around $1500.
You may want to look at the new Sonnet if considering j2i...
www.sonnettech.com
Fusion Flex J3i (2019 Mac Pro Drive Bracket) - SONNETTECH
3-drive mounting system for Mac Pro (2019). Install SATA 3.5-inch hard drives and 2.5-inch SSDs. Kit includes brackets, screws, and cables.
Excuse me that’s what I meant. The stock is HDD and from memory between 80 & 200 speeds on it.
Here's a better option for an external enclosure for HDDs IMHO:
Lou
HighPoint RocketStor 6414S 6Gb/s SAS/SATA 4-Bay Storage Tower Enclosure
Robust, High-Quality 6Gb/s Mini-SAS 4-Bay Tower Enclosure: The RocketStor 6414S is a stylish, high-quality storage tower enclosure that features an external 6Gb/s Mini-SAS port and four removable hot-swap bays which support any 2.5” or 3.5” SATA Hard Drive or SSD of your choice. Customers have th...
www.amazon.com
Lou