National Instruments Data Storage Product Comparison

Data streaming applications transfer data from an instrument’s onboard memory to either the host PC’s memory or its hard disk drive. National Instruments provides a number of data storage options based on external RAID hard drive enclosures and an in-chassis module for use with PXI systems. The high-speed data storage products provide multiple bandwidth and storage size options that can be used in an array of application, such as signal record and playback and field testing. This tutorial will compare the assortment of data storage products that are available.

Data Streaming Applications

PXI provides an open and flexible platform for National Instruments high-speed data storage and modular instrument, data streaming systems. NI data storage options offer transfer rates from 50 MB/s to 750 MB/s with storage space ranging from 250 GB to 12 TB. The wide range of products enables these streaming solutions to be used in a wide variety of applications. RF Record and Playback and IF/Baseband Streaming are some of the many applications that demonstrate the successful use of such solutions. Both applications stream real-time signals (IF or RF) to and from disk. National Instruments high-speed data storage products provide high-speed data transfer rates ranging from 200 MB/s to 750 MB/s and large data storage capabilities consisting of 1 TB to 12 TB, which is vital for such applications. Not only does the PXI platform provides a cost-effective solution for data streaming but also an option to easily move data between multiple test setups or to supplement the PXI system controller’s storage capacity.

To learn about other application spaces such as noise mapping, reference Data Streaming.

Purpose of RAIDs

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), also known as Redundant Array of Independent Drives, is a data storage scheme that can divide and replicate data across multiple hard drives. Specific RAID modes are used for high bandwidth data transfer applications that stream data to hard disk space, whereas other modes are used to ensure that a hard drive failure does not result in data loss. In general, RAID is ideal for applications that require either increased transfer rates, additional storage space, or redundancy to ensure reliability of data.

For more information about RAID configurations and modes, reference to the Developer Zone Tutorial: Understanding RAID.

High-Speed Data Storage Comparison

External RAID

Rack-Mount RAID

*32-bit operating systems limit a single logical drive to 2 TB. You can configure the HDD-8264 total storage capacity of 3 TB as two or more logical drives (2 TB and 1 TB logical drives, three 1 TB logical drives, and so on).

**The NI 8260 is software RAID. The configuration is setup using Windows utility.

Chassis/Controller Recommendation

It is important to consider the chassis and controller combination being used to ensure maximum performance. A PXI Express chassis provides a combination of slots that either have dedicated bandwidth or share bandwidth through the means of a PCIe switch. The maximum available bandwidth for a specific PXI Express module is also dependent on the PCIe links available for the PXI Express chassis from the PXI Express controller; this is because the number of PCIe links in a PXI Express controller varies per model. For these high-speed data streaming systems, it is recommended to use the PXIe-8133 embedded controller/ PXIe-1075 chassis combination. The PXIe-8133 embedded controller provides four x4 PCIe links to the backplane of a PXI express chassis, providing a maximum system throughput of 8 GB/s.

Although the PXIe-8133/PXIe-1075 is the recommended combination, streaming capabilities can be evaluated and optimized for individual applications by knowing the total throughput transmitted over the bus and the read/write speed of the storage system.

For additional chassis and controller combinations, reference the KnowledgeBase 4ASA51PS: PXIe Embedded Controller and Chassis Performance.

Additional Resources

Developer Zone Tutorial: PXI Express FAQ

Developer Zone Tutorial: Introduction to Streaming

RF Record and Playback System - Stream RF Data To and From Hard Disk

RF Record and Playback

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