Review: FusionIO's ioDrive 320GB

FusionIO: Highest throughput, not easily expandable

Company: FusionIO
Product: ioDrive 320GB

The FusionIO system is different from all others in that it doesn't use SSD drives, instead having proprietary flash memory mounted directly to the board.

It achieved the highest throughput in the test (the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator is also made by FusionIO) with over 700MBps on reads and over 500MBps on writes and excellent IOps, with no write cliff.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Company: FusionIO
Product: ioDrive 320GB

The FusionIO system is different from all others in that it doesn't use SSD drives, instead having proprietary flash memory mounted directly to the board.

It achieved the highest throughput in the test (the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator is also made by FusionIO) with over 700MBps on reads and over 500MBps on writes and excellent IOps, with no write cliff.

Installing the FusionIO system does require more research in advance than the other internal controllers we tested. It requires 64-bit versions of Windows, which is not an issue with Windows Server 2008 R2, but if you're running earlier versions, you'll need to make sure you're running 64-bit.

A small issue was that the included USB key only has documentation – the drivers must be downloaded from the Web site. The drive also cannot be used as a boot drive, though FusionIO is working to make this possible.

Once the drivers are downloaded, installing the board is straightforward. Since the flash memory is mounted on the board, the only way to expand the storage is to add another board. Once the drivers are installed, the board shows up as another drive, which can then be mounted. The only decision you'll need to make is the level of write-optimization to support – there are three modes.

While the FusionIO system is not inexpensive at $6,829.99 for the 320GB version, and is not readily expandable, it offers very high throughput with very low latencies.

Return to main test.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.