Slow HDD in linux?

Cluster · 01-30-02, 11:59 PM

I used the hdparm -t command to test my HDD speed and it shows a read speed of under 10MB/s. How do i get it near spec. it's an ata/100 disk. although the cable's ata/66 i think, have to upgrade that. It's the only drive on that controller. I used hdparm -c 1 -t 1 to set it to 32bit mode. How do i get higher read speeds?

David · 01-31-02, 12:47 PM

Does it SEEM slow? ie - slow proggies etc.

An ATA66 disk will rarely hit 66MB/s.

-Is DMA enabled?
-32bit transfer?
-What is the throughput in windows?
-Check BIOS settings.

Visidex · 01-31-02, 04:33 PM

I doubt an ATA66 drive will ever hit 66MB/s. The current 15k SCSI drives barely hit 60 MB/sec.

What's the spindle speed of the drive?

supraway · 01-31-02, 05:13 PM

I don't know whether or not you did this, but you need to place the HDparam settings in your startup files (forgot what they are), or it won't set 32bit mode & DMA every time. Maybe this is it?

XWRed1 · 02-01-02, 03:37 PM

`hdparm -c1 -d1 <drivename>` will turn on 32-bit transfers and dma mode for that drive. Notice the lack of spaces in the -c1 and -d1 parameters. Turn those on, then benchmark again.

Cluster · 02-02-02, 08:32 AM

I don't think it's too slow, although i don't run the I/O on it to much. I ran hdparm -t /dev/hda just a second ago and got 8.98MB/s then i ran hdparm -T /dev/hda and got 133.33MB/s. I know the later is not an actual speed but the 9mb/s is low is it not. I mean even 66mb/s is only theoretical and won't achieve that, i should be getting somewhere between the 20-30 range should i not. If anyone knows how to tweak this a little more please add advice. I'm running redhat 7.2 if that makes a difference.

I also had another question. After running redhat for a day or so, things started to get really slow. If i clicked on a program it took near 30-40 seconds before it would open, when it got to the point where it took a minute I restarted the machine. Now it's just fine. What was the reason for it doing this and how do I correct it.

David · 02-02-02, 10:08 AM

I know that 66 is only the burst transfer rate. I wouldn't be surprised if sustained rate IS only 9MB/s

Cluster · 02-02-02, 11:49 AM

So i shouldn't be alarmed by any of this then? If not then fine. But being an overclocker at heart, i like to squeeze everything that it'll give. If anyone's gotta a good website(s) for tweaks in linux, or any good tips that they know please post. Maybe, just maybe, we could get a sticky about this.

David · 02-02-02, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by clboertien
So i shouldn't be alarmed by any of this then? If not then fine. But being an overclocker at heart, i like to squeeze everything that it'll give. If anyone's gotta a good website(s) for tweaks in linux, or any good tips that they know please post. Maybe, just maybe, we could get a sticky about this.

I would say only get worried if games etc seem slow - benchmarks are pointless if the rig runs fine.

Cluster · 02-02-02, 02:15 PM

I'm not really worried so much about games, i wanna get into programming with linux and am looking for speed with compiling. I'm new to the area and don't know alot yet. What would i need to get fast compiling, HDD/Ram/CPU? or a mix of'em all?

XWRed1 · 02-02-02, 03:44 PM

Fast everything = fast compiling.

Btw, is this on the P166 or your Duron?

Cluster · 02-02-02, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by XWRed1
Fast everything = fast compiling.

Btw, is this on the P166 or your Duron?

The duron, 256meg pc2100,

It's mostly gonna be used to run mysql, for the time being, until i get a webhosting service to stick everything on. But i wanna get into some programming.

David · 02-03-02, 07:44 AM

If you start programming in linux look at C in command line to start with. Small C programs copile almost instantly on my PC (was a duron, now a tbird).

Generally CPU speed and RAM bandwidth makes for faster compiling - GCC is fast anyway.

01-30-02, 11:59 PM	Thread Starter #1
Cluster Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canuckistan	Slow HDD in linux? I used the hdparm -t command to test my HDD speed and it shows a read speed of under 10MB/s. How do i get it near spec. it's an ata/100 disk. although the cable's ata/66 i think, have to upgrade that. It's the only drive on that controller. I used hdparm -c 1 -t 1 to set it to 32bit mode. How do i get higher read speeds? __________________ Multi VM/SMP Folding Guide \| Ram Timing Guide \| Folding working on Alzheimer's cure GPU Countdown to new years - Fold for a cure! Asus M3A79-T ~ Phenom 9850 ~ Cell Shock DDR-1066 ~ HIS HD4850 Phenom 9850 Rank : PiFast (1st) \| wPrime32 (1st) \| wPrime1024 (1st) \| SPi1M (1st) \| SPi32M (2nd)
	QUOTE Thanks

01-31-02, 12:47 PM	#2
David Forums Super Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Hiding from Americans and making pretty colours in a drybox in St Andrews	Does it SEEM slow? ie - slow proggies etc. An ATA66 disk will rarely hit 66MB/s. -Is DMA enabled? -32bit transfer? -What is the throughput in windows? -Check BIOS settings. __________________ David J. Nelson MChem(Edin) PhD(Strath) AMRSC [Academia Profile] OC Forums Super Moderator // Overclockers.com Editor The Workhorse: [Lenovo W510] Intel Core i7-720QM / 8 GB DDR3 / nVidia Quadro FX880M / Crucial M4 256 GB SSD / Windows 7 The HTPC/Server: AMD Phenom X4 9650 / 6 GB DDR2 / nVidia 8300 / 5 TB of HDDs / Antec Solo II Case / Windows 7 The Gaming Rig: AMD Llano A6-3650 / 4 GB DDR3 / nVidia GTX260 / 2x 500 GB HDD in RAID0 / Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 Case / Windows 7 The Benchmarking Setup: Various LGA775 chips / Asus Rampage Formula / 2 GB OCZ 1066 MHz DDR2 / nVidia Quadro NVS 285 / 320 GB HDD / Windows 7 My research fellowship is eating all my time, so I may be slow to reply to emails and private messages.
	QUOTE Thanks

01-31-02, 04:33 PM	#3
Visidex Member Join Date: Jan 2002	I doubt an ATA66 drive will ever hit 66MB/s. The current 15k SCSI drives barely hit 60 MB/sec. What's the spindle speed of the drive?
	QUOTE Thanks

01-31-02, 05:13 PM	#4
supraway Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: SLC, Utah	I don't know whether or not you did this, but you need to place the HDparam settings in your startup files (forgot what they are), or it won't set 32bit mode & DMA every time. Maybe this is it?
	QUOTE Thanks

02-01-02, 03:37 PM	#5
XWRed1 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001	`hdparm -c1 -d1 <drivename>` will turn on 32-bit transfers and dma mode for that drive. Notice the lack of spaces in the -c1 and -d1 parameters. Turn those on, then benchmark again.
	QUOTE Thanks

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02-02-02, 08:32 AM	Thread Starter #6
Cluster Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canuckistan	I don't think it's too slow, although i don't run the I/O on it to much. I ran hdparm -t /dev/hda just a second ago and got 8.98MB/s then i ran hdparm -T /dev/hda and got 133.33MB/s. I know the later is not an actual speed but the 9mb/s is low is it not. I mean even 66mb/s is only theoretical and won't achieve that, i should be getting somewhere between the 20-30 range should i not. If anyone knows how to tweak this a little more please add advice. I'm running redhat 7.2 if that makes a difference. I also had another question. After running redhat for a day or so, things started to get really slow. If i clicked on a program it took near 30-40 seconds before it would open, when it got to the point where it took a minute I restarted the machine. Now it's just fine. What was the reason for it doing this and how do I correct it. __________________ Multi VM/SMP Folding Guide \| Ram Timing Guide \| Folding working on Alzheimer's cure GPU Countdown to new years - Fold for a cure! Asus M3A79-T ~ Phenom 9850 ~ Cell Shock DDR-1066 ~ HIS HD4850 Phenom 9850 Rank : PiFast (1st) \| wPrime32 (1st) \| wPrime1024 (1st) \| SPi1M (1st) \| SPi32M (2nd)
	QUOTE Thanks

02-02-02, 10:08 AM	#7
David Forums Super Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Hiding from Americans and making pretty colours in a drybox in St Andrews	I know that 66 is only the burst transfer rate. I wouldn't be surprised if sustained rate IS only 9MB/s __________________ David J. Nelson MChem(Edin) PhD(Strath) AMRSC [Academia Profile] OC Forums Super Moderator // Overclockers.com Editor The Workhorse: [Lenovo W510] Intel Core i7-720QM / 8 GB DDR3 / nVidia Quadro FX880M / Crucial M4 256 GB SSD / Windows 7 The HTPC/Server: AMD Phenom X4 9650 / 6 GB DDR2 / nVidia 8300 / 5 TB of HDDs / Antec Solo II Case / Windows 7 The Gaming Rig: AMD Llano A6-3650 / 4 GB DDR3 / nVidia GTX260 / 2x 500 GB HDD in RAID0 / Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 Case / Windows 7 The Benchmarking Setup: Various LGA775 chips / Asus Rampage Formula / 2 GB OCZ 1066 MHz DDR2 / nVidia Quadro NVS 285 / 320 GB HDD / Windows 7 My research fellowship is eating all my time, so I may be slow to reply to emails and private messages.
	QUOTE Thanks

02-02-02, 11:49 AM	Thread Starter #8
Cluster Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canuckistan	So i shouldn't be alarmed by any of this then? If not then fine. But being an overclocker at heart, i like to squeeze everything that it'll give. If anyone's gotta a good website(s) for tweaks in linux, or any good tips that they know please post. Maybe, just maybe, we could get a sticky about this. __________________ Multi VM/SMP Folding Guide \| Ram Timing Guide \| Folding working on Alzheimer's cure GPU Countdown to new years - Fold for a cure! Asus M3A79-T ~ Phenom 9850 ~ Cell Shock DDR-1066 ~ HIS HD4850 Phenom 9850 Rank : PiFast (1st) \| wPrime32 (1st) \| wPrime1024 (1st) \| SPi1M (1st) \| SPi32M (2nd)
	QUOTE Thanks

02-02-02, 02:15 PM	Thread Starter #10
Cluster Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canuckistan	I'm not really worried so much about games, i wanna get into programming with linux and am looking for speed with compiling. I'm new to the area and don't know alot yet. What would i need to get fast compiling, HDD/Ram/CPU? or a mix of'em all? __________________ Multi VM/SMP Folding Guide \| Ram Timing Guide \| Folding working on Alzheimer's cure GPU Countdown to new years - Fold for a cure! Asus M3A79-T ~ Phenom 9850 ~ Cell Shock DDR-1066 ~ HIS HD4850 Phenom 9850 Rank : PiFast (1st) \| wPrime32 (1st) \| wPrime1024 (1st) \| SPi1M (1st) \| SPi32M (2nd)
	QUOTE Thanks

02-02-02, 03:44 PM	#11
XWRed1 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001	Fast everything = fast compiling. Btw, is this on the P166 or your Duron?
	QUOTE Thanks

02-03-02, 07:44 AM	#13
David Forums Super Moderator Overclockers.com Lead Editor Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Hiding from Americans and making pretty colours in a drybox in St Andrews	If you start programming in linux look at C in command line to start with. Small C programs copile almost instantly on my PC (was a duron, now a tbird). Generally CPU speed and RAM bandwidth makes for faster compiling - GCC is fast anyway. __________________ David J. Nelson MChem(Edin) PhD(Strath) AMRSC [Academia Profile] OC Forums Super Moderator // Overclockers.com Editor The Workhorse: [Lenovo W510] Intel Core i7-720QM / 8 GB DDR3 / nVidia Quadro FX880M / Crucial M4 256 GB SSD / Windows 7 The HTPC/Server: AMD Phenom X4 9650 / 6 GB DDR2 / nVidia 8300 / 5 TB of HDDs / Antec Solo II Case / Windows 7 The Gaming Rig: AMD Llano A6-3650 / 4 GB DDR3 / nVidia GTX260 / 2x 500 GB HDD in RAID0 / Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 Case / Windows 7 The Benchmarking Setup: Various LGA775 chips / Asus Rampage Formula / 2 GB OCZ 1066 MHz DDR2 / nVidia Quadro NVS 285 / 320 GB HDD / Windows 7 My research fellowship is eating all my time, so I may be slow to reply to emails and private messages.
	QUOTE Thanks

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