On the use of MicroSD on RoBoard
On the use of MicroSD on RoBoard
by roboard
Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:25 am
As everyone knows, RoBoard employs MicroSD as its storage. But many people overlook the dramatic influence of MicroSD's speed on RoBoard's performance; consequently, they may plug a slow MicroSD into RoBoard and then suffer from slow installation and operation of WinXP/Linux.
The following are some suggestions for using MicroSD on RoBoard.
[General]
1. Use class 6 or 10 MicroSD cards rather than class 2 cards.
2. Select MicroSD from trustworthy vendors; for example, we have tested many MicroSD from various vendors, and found that even class 4 MicroSD from SanDisk is faster than some class 10 MicroSD from unfamiliar vendors.
3. Use a disk benchmark software (on your PC or on RoBoard) to check the real speed of your MicroSD; for example, FDBench may be a candidate: http://www.hdbench.net/ja/fdbench/index.html
4. In RoBoard BIOS "Advanced->IDE Configuration" menu, select "OnBoard IDE Operate Mode -> Native Mode" and "ATA(PI) 80Pin Cable Detection -> Device". (Note: the two settings are just fine tuning and may has no obvious effect.)
[WinXP]
1. Use FAT32 rather than NTFS to reduce disk writes.
2. Set the virtual memory to a fixed size. And/or edit the registry to disable paging: run regedit.exe ->
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> DisablePagingExecutive, set as 1.
3. Fine tune the registry: run regedit.exe ->
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> LargeSystemCache, set as 1;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> SecondLevelDataCache, set as 256 (Decimal).
4. If you feel that the disk speed is still unsatisfactory, you may try EWF (go to http://www.roboard.com/download_ml.htm to see the application note). Note: you should disable the virtual memory before enabling EWF.
[Linux]
1. Don't use Ubuntu Desktop because it consumes a large mount memory (> 256MB); on a machine with only 256MB RAM such as RoBoard, it will access SWAP frequently, which can slowdown the speed very much. In general, you shouldn't use on RoBoard any Linux distribution that requires > 256MB RAM.
2. On RoBoard, use a Linux distribution that require less memory; for example, Ubuntu Server or Lubuntu may be your selection.
3. Select a filesystem that is suitable for SSD (for example, some people say that ext2 can minimize disk writes to a SD card).
If you use ext3 or ext4, you may mount the file systems with "noatime" & "nodiratime" options to reduce unnecessary disk writes.
4. Set the I/O scheduler suitable for SSD; we suggest that you set "elevator=noop".
The following are some suggestions for using MicroSD on RoBoard.
[General]
1. Use class 6 or 10 MicroSD cards rather than class 2 cards.
2. Select MicroSD from trustworthy vendors; for example, we have tested many MicroSD from various vendors, and found that even class 4 MicroSD from SanDisk is faster than some class 10 MicroSD from unfamiliar vendors.
3. Use a disk benchmark software (on your PC or on RoBoard) to check the real speed of your MicroSD; for example, FDBench may be a candidate: http://www.hdbench.net/ja/fdbench/index.html
4. In RoBoard BIOS "Advanced->IDE Configuration" menu, select "OnBoard IDE Operate Mode -> Native Mode" and "ATA(PI) 80Pin Cable Detection -> Device". (Note: the two settings are just fine tuning and may has no obvious effect.)
[WinXP]
1. Use FAT32 rather than NTFS to reduce disk writes.
2. Set the virtual memory to a fixed size. And/or edit the registry to disable paging: run regedit.exe ->
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> DisablePagingExecutive, set as 1.
3. Fine tune the registry: run regedit.exe ->
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> LargeSystemCache, set as 1;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> SecondLevelDataCache, set as 256 (Decimal).
4. If you feel that the disk speed is still unsatisfactory, you may try EWF (go to http://www.roboard.com/download_ml.htm to see the application note). Note: you should disable the virtual memory before enabling EWF.
[Linux]
1. Don't use Ubuntu Desktop because it consumes a large mount memory (> 256MB); on a machine with only 256MB RAM such as RoBoard, it will access SWAP frequently, which can slowdown the speed very much. In general, you shouldn't use on RoBoard any Linux distribution that requires > 256MB RAM.
2. On RoBoard, use a Linux distribution that require less memory; for example, Ubuntu Server or Lubuntu may be your selection.
3. Select a filesystem that is suitable for SSD (for example, some people say that ext2 can minimize disk writes to a SD card).
If you use ext3 or ext4, you may mount the file systems with "noatime" & "nodiratime" options to reduce unnecessary disk writes.
4. Set the I/O scheduler suitable for SSD; we suggest that you set "elevator=noop".
