It's been one year since last testing BCache as a means in the Linux kernel's block layer to allow an SSD to serve as a cache for a larger but slower rotational hard drive. So I have carried out some fresh benchmarks using the Linux 4.14 Git kernel to provide not only fresh benchmarks of BCache but also MDADM SSD RAID on Linux and some other fresh SSD/HDD benchmarks.

For boosting the I/O performance of the AMD EPYC 7601 Tyan server I decided to play around with a Linux RAID setup this weekend using two NVMe M.2 SSDs. This is our first time running some Linux RAID benchmarks of NVMe M.2 SSDs and for this comparison were tests of EXT4 and F2FS with MDADM soft RAID as well as with Btrfs using its built-in native RAID capabilities for some interesting weekend benchmarks.

Honoring another request of a Phoronix Premium supporter is looking at the performance impact of full-disk encryption using LUKS when using an AMD Ryzen processor. For this round of testing I used an AMD Ryzen 5 1400 running Fedora 26 and backed by an Intel 545s 512GB SATA 3.0 SSD.

Intel announced their 545s series SSD last month and it's been making plenty of rounds on Windows. Curious about the Linux performance, I picked up the Intel 545s 512GB SATA 3.0 SSD for benchmarking on Linux.

If you are looking for a low-cost NVMe M.2 SSD, the Toshiba XG3 is moderately priced and offers decent performance under Linux.

Earlier in the Linux 4.12 cycle I delivered a number of I/O scheduler benchmarks from a solid-state drive while for this article are some fresh I/O scheduler tests using a slower SSD as well as a conventional HDD. Schedulers tested were CFQ, Noop, deadline, MQ None, MQ Kyber, MQ BFQ, and MQ Deadline.

Needing to replace a failed hard drive in one of our server room benchmark systems, I decided to try out the ADATA SU800 as something new. It's an affordable SATA 3.0 SSD and in not trying out an ADATA SSD in a while, I decided to purchase this one and run some benchmarks on it prior to commissioning it to its new home.

I picked up a Corsair Force MP500 NVMe M.2 solid-state drive for one of the new test systems in the Phoronix lab and so I ran some benchmarks on this high-performance drive compared to a few other SSDs.

With Btrfs RAID 5/6 seeing fixes in Linux 4.12, if you are re-evaluating the setup of a Btrfs native RAID array, here are some fresh benchmarks using four solid-state drives.

Given the big changes of the Linux 4.12 kernel and a lot of that being block/file-system-related work, here are some fresh benchmarks of the Btrfs, EXT4, F2FS, and XFS file-systems compared to their performance on past kernel releases when using a solid-state drive.

Here are some of my initial tests of trying out an Intel Optane memory module under Ubuntu Linux with a Kabylake system.

Last week I posted benchmarks showing off F2FS performance with its multi-drive feature that isn't formal RAID but can still yield better I/O performance. For additional context, here are some results on that same system and with the Linux 4.11 kernel when using Btrfs with its native RAID capabilities.

With the Linux 4.11 kernel potentially being released as soon as today, here are some fresh benchmarks of Btrfs / EXT4 / F2FS / XFS on a solid-state drive and comparing the performance of 4.11 Git back to Linux 4.9 and 4.10.

While I have already posted some single-disk file-system benchmarks on Linux 4.10, for some benchmarking fun this weekend I decided to run some fresh tests of Btrfs RAID capabilities using four solid-state drives (SSDs).

Given all the changes with the Linux 4.10 kernel, including a fair amount of work on file-systems and block / I/O code, here are some fresh benchmarks of the EXT4, F2FS, Btrfs, and XFS file-systems atop a solid-state drive when comparing the early post-RC1 Linux 4.10 kernel benchmarks to that of the 4.6/4.7/4.8/4.9 stable kernels.

While the Samsung 960 EVO NVMe SSD was promising at first, after its quick failure I decided to try out the Toshiba/OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 SSD. For the 256GB model (RVD400-M22280-256G) this high-performance solid-state drive will set you back just $149 USD.

Following last week's Btrfs / EXT4 / XFS / F2FS benchmarks using the Linux 4.6 through 4.9 kernels, some requests came in for doing some fresh Btrfs mount option comparison benchmarks. Thus for your viewing pleasure ahead of the holidays are some Btrfs mount option tests with the Linux 4.9 kernel.

For those curious how various Linux file-systems have evolved since Linux 4.6, here are some fresh benchmarks of the Btrfs, EXT4, F2FS, and XFS file-systems being tested on Linux 4.6 vs. 4.7 vs. 4.8 vs. 4.9 with a solid-state drive for looking at any performance changes.

As of this week the Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 SSDs have begun shipping for those interested in high-performance solid-state storage. For our benchmarking fun today I am looking at the Samsung 960 EVO 250GB NVM Express M.2 SSD (MZ-V6E25) with tests under Ubuntu 16.04 while using the Linux 4.9 kernel.

This week I was shopping for a solid state drive to replace a hard drive on one of my backup/archival systems and ended up settling for the Crucial MX300 in getting 525GB of storage for just $120 USD. Here are some benchmarks of the Crucial CT525MX300SSD1 compared to some other SSDs on Linux for those curious.

It has been over one year since last testing the mainline Linux kernel's BCache support for this block cache that allows solid-state drives to act as a cache for slower hard disk drives. Here are some fresh benchmarks of a SATA 3.0 SSD+HDD with BCache from the Linux 4.8 Git kernel.

Last month Intel introduced the 600P Series solid-state drives as the most competitively-priced NVMe SSDs launched to date. Here are a few Linux comparison benchmarks from my initial testing of the SSDPEKKW256G7X1 M.2 SSD on Linux.

Up until running the tests for today's article, I can't remember the last time I touched a hard drive... It's been many months ago at least. Nearly all of our tests at Phoronix are from solid state storage, but I decided to pick up a new HDD for running some Linux file-system tests on a conventional hard drive for those not having an SSD.

Earlier this month I carried out some 4-disk Btrfs RAID benchmarks using four SATA 3.0 SSDs. Those tests were done using the Btrfs built-in RAID capabilities while today are some comparison tests against those numbers when using the Linux Software RAID setup via mdadm.

Going along with the recent Linux 4.7 file-system benchmarks, here are some tests of Btrfs' built-in RAID functionality when tested on the Linux 4.7 kernel across four SATA SSDs.

I've been a bit behind on my file-system benchmarking the past few months but for your viewing pleasure today are some EXT4 vs. Btrfs vs. F2FS file-system tests on an NVMe SSD when testing the Linux 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, and 4.7 kernels.

The latest piece of hardware I've been playing around with at Phoronix is Samsung's V-NAND SSD 950 PRO M.2 NVM Express SSD. Assuming you are running a modern Linux distribution, this M.2 PCI-E NVMe SSD can offer blazing fast performance.

With having some new Corsair USB 3.0 Flash Voyager flash drives around, I decided to run some fresh Linux file-system benchmarks on them to see how various file-systems are performing on low-cost USB flash drives.

The Trion 150 has been generating a fair amount of buzz since its release back in January as being a nice budget solid-state drive ideal for first-time SSD buyers. The Trion 150 is a true budget SSD with the 480GB SATA 3.0 drive retailing for just $140 USD, or about 30 cents per GB. Tests and results of the OCZ Trion 150 under Windows have been rather favorable so I figured it would be interesting to test out this drive under Ubuntu Linux.

With the falling prices of solid-state storage, it's becoming increasingly affordable to build a RAID array of SSDs. I have delivered many Btrfs RAID benchmarks on Phoronix over the years while today I have some fresh RAID0 and RAID1 numbers for Btrfs atop the latest Linux 4.5 development kernel when using two low-cost SSDs that retail for just around $40 USD a piece.