Hi.

Recently replaced a small Snap Server (2 x 250Gb IDE, RAID 1) with a large SCSI based disk array; a Dell 220s array consisting of 14 x 10K 300Gb disks. These are in turn connected to a PERC4/DC controller in a Poweredge 600SC 'server'. I have installed Slack 12.1 (default kernel) and all is functioning okay, apart from the disks (I think). I have my DVD collection ripped in VIDEO_TS/vob format stored on a 2.0Tb RAID 5 array. This in turn is available to my (PC) media centre, via SAMBA.

However, playback of said rips is problematic. I get what I would describe as dropouts; a bit like a dirty dvd disc that has a small pause and then carries on.

Any advice on setup parameters of the array/controller, and/or analysis tools would be much appreciated. I think I can safely rule out the network as I have run a tcpdump on the interface and run it through Ethereal and all looked ok. I have also tried the same rip on the old Snap Server and playback is uninterrupted. Server has 3xGbit network cards, but Media Centre PC has 100Mbit. All are connected through a Powerconnect 5224 switch. Snap Server is 100Mbit.

Let me know what additional information I can add as I am keen to know what I've done wrong here.

Thanks in advance

Snickwad

I'm not sure, but samba might also be the culprit.

Try tweaking your samba settings

I don't know your setup's specifics but...

Is your Dell Poweredge a 1.7GHz Celeron, 512MB machine?

If you are running a software RAID, SAMBA and a bunch of other things, you may be killing that poor little celeron... Stream you DVD like normal and run 'top' and see what your CPU loading is.

More memory and/or a faster CPU may fix your problem.

I don't think it has anything to do with processing speed. I would first suspect the I/O scheduler, as long as everything else tests out ok.