At work, we are developing a indoor modeling backpack system which is carried by a person through building interiors. Using cameras, lasers, and an IMU, we can reconstruct the 3D model of the areas the person walked through. The data is currently captured with a laptop outfitted with three hard drives in a RAID 0 (stripe) array. This week, I was having problems capturing data with some new, higher resolution cameras and discovered that the RAID array was operating at significantly slower speed when on battery power. Using HDTune, I went from a max sustained read of 350MB/s and 2400MB/s peak on AC to 125MB/s sustained and 230MB/s peak on battery. This was a problem.
We’re running Windows XP Professional x64 and an onboard Intel ICH8R/ICH9R RAID.
The solution? Drivers. We were still using the original Intel Matrix Storage drivers from version 7.6. Upgrading to 8.9 didn’t help, but upgrading to the renamed Rapid Storage Technology drivers, version 10.1.0.1008, fixed it. No performance degradation when operating on battery. Battery life sucks, but at least things are fast!