Compaq 3200 - Manual (Page 153)

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Compaq Smart Array 3200 Controller Reference Guide
Writer: Rickard Project: Compaq Smart Array 3200 Controller Reference Guide Comments: 340862-002
File Name: L-APPE.DOC Last Saved On: 12/7/98 9:30 AM
COMPAQ CONFIDENTIAL - NEED TO KNOW REQUIRED
Performance Enhancement
Drive arrays enable data access performance to be dramatically enhanced over
non-arrayed drives. In addition, the Smart Array 3200 Controller has several
other performance enhancement features that are discussed in this section.
Distributing Data and Data Striping
Distributing data makes it possible to access data concurrently from multiple
drives in an array. This yields I/O rates many times faster than non-arrayed
drives. Data striping allows data distributing.
Data striping is automatically generated on an array controller to store user data.
A stripe is a collection of contiguous data that is distributed evenly across all
physical drives in a logical drive. The width of the stripe (the amount stored on
each physical drive) is selected to optimize the performance of the operating
system.