You can also add the Western Digital RE4-GP WD2002FYPS. I'm using it as my parity and it works great. I get about 10 MB/s additional speed over the Hitachi I had previously. I realize its kind of pricey, but I picked it up for only $150.
What is your total speed when you move files to it?
And
where did you get it for $150?
I picked it up "used" on eBay. The guy said he used it for one month, and then no longer needed it. Sure enough, the manufacture date and "Power On Hours" verfied that it was indeed almost brand new.
I'm not sure it sped it up much. From my Windows 7 desktop on gigabit, I get ~35-40MB/s. On my last parity check, I got ~74,000 KB/s (72.27 MB/s). Here are the stats from the disk speed test in unMenu:
/dev/sda:
FLASH Timing cached reads: 3494 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1748.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 70 MB in 3.06 seconds = 22.86 MB/sec
/dev/sdb:
Hitachi 2TB on AOC-SASLP-MV8 Timing cached reads: 3566 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1785.13 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 366 MB in 3.01 seconds = 121.50 MB/sec
/dev/sdc:
Hitachi 2TB on AOC-SASLP-MV8 Timing cached reads: 3318 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1660.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 380 MB in 3.01 seconds = 126.14 MB/sec
/dev/sdd: PARITY - WD RE4 2TB on Motherboard Controller
Timing cached reads: 3348 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1676.00 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 424 MB in 3.01 seconds = 140.89 MB/sec/dev/sde:
Hitachi 2TB on Motherboard Controller Timing cached reads: 3262 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1632.85 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 370 MB in 3.01 seconds = 122.92 MB/sec
/dev/sdf:
Seagate 1.5TB on Motherboard Controller Timing cached reads: 3372 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1688.38 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 364 MB in 3.00 seconds = 121.20 MB/sec
/dev/sdg:
Seagate 1.5TB on Motherboard Controller Timing cached reads: 3650 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1826.82 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 368 MB in 3.01 seconds = 122.15 MB/sec
/dev/sdh:
Seagate 1.5TB on Motherboard Controller Timing cached reads: 3524 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1763.69 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 364 MB in 3.00 seconds = 121.25 MB/sec
/dev/sdi:
Hitachi 2TB on Motherboard Controller Timing cached reads: 3544 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1774.62 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 392 MB in 3.00 seconds = 130.59 MB/sec
