WD6400AAKS poor seek time problem and solution, WD tech support ftl

[MadMan007]

You can either disable it entirely or set it to an arbitrary number within a specified range. If one wanted to balance seek times with noise something in the middle would be best and so on, with a home server seek times probably aren't that critical so making it quiet seems like a good idea.

Looking to tweak AAM for performance issues isn't ground breaking by any means I suppse, after all there is a software tool already made for it, but given the all around good reviews this drive gets I thought it important to post the solution for others who might have the same problem.

 

[chawks2]

Thanks MM007. Worked like a charm, good job doing your homework - cliffs notes always made it easier.

 

[GMon]

I just purchased 2 of these drives. I would like to test them, access time, before installing OS. Is there a program similar to HD Tune that can be burned to disk and booted in order to run the test? I want to see if I need to use the Feature Tool to change AAM before installing OS.

Thanks!

 

[MadMan007]

You could make a BartPE or similar pre-install boot disk and run the programs within that. Of course that requires an OS too, seems like you're posting off some kind of computer though. But really you could just install the OS and then test the drives, changing the AAM is a low-level hardware change so doing it after OS install is no problem. The only catch I guess is if you're RAIDing them you'd want to test them separately.

 

[GMon]

I'm stupid. I have 3 other PC's in the house so I just took one of my new blank wd6400aaks and plugged it in to the mobo of one of the other computers. Downloaded and installed HD Tune and without messing with AAM my results are....

I did use Feature Tool to check AAM before testing the drive and AAM is off by default. I guess there is no reason for me to turn it on and set it to highest setting....correct?

 

[GMon]

Then I took the drive, enabled AAM at highest setting and ran HD Tune again. Basically no difference....

Then I set AAM to lowest setting just for S&G...

 

[silencer51]

I got one of these drives last week for my s939 rig. I ran HD Tach and I got back 16ms seek time (on an NForce4 chipset) :S

I will try the Hitachi feature tool...

 

[GMon]

After doing a bit more research I guess the wd6400aaks' that end in "-00A7B" don't need to have the AAM messed with. High 11's to low 12's access time @ default settings. Guess I lucked out. Not that it matters anyhow since changing the AAM is pretty simple using Feature Tool. Great post MM007!

 

[Gabkicks]

is there a huge difference in real time performance? I just ordered one of these hard drives. should be here tomorrow w/ the rest of the parts !

 

[chad11779]

I have the WD3200AAKS, and Im getting horrible access times. When I bench a single drive Im getting Read/88 and Access/15.7, and this is with every single drive seperate. It ****es me off, because it is not as WD advertised. Ill show you my benchmarks, now this is with 5x WD3200AAKS, Yes five. Im really not happy. Mind you these are my best runs Ive had. I average on the 100gb matrix slice 9 sec access times, and on the other raid 14.5 access times. Is this right, or am I over reacting. Remeber when I bench thes drives individually they have mid 15 access times

 

[@crilicM@n]

damm!

bump, people buying these drives should look at this

I'm planning on picking up a couple of these in a month, bookmarked this

Damm! Just ordered one of those to complement an OCZ 64gb for the OS...

Hope mine doesn't need that update... But tell me... If I do the UPdtate, it'll become faster, but noisier too? (Since I bought it becouse it was quiet... Just for Backup of my documents paste and some music...)

 

[bbq]

my latency is a bit better than yours, the first post

2x640 in raid0. i don't know why the raid0 speed is about 2.5 times faster than single drive.
32mb test

8mb test

 

[tuskenraider]

my latency is a bit better than yours, the first post




2x640 in raid0. i don't know why the raid0 speed is about 2.5 times faster than single drive.
32mb test


8mb test

You mean you have no concept of why and what Matrix RAID does to benchmarks though you've set it up? There's a clue in another thread you recently posted in.

 

[@crilicM@n]

bbq, remember... "Slice the best part of the drive..."

With the adventure of onboard raid support made a standard chipset feature and even improved by the "matrix" concept, raptors price should be reviewed and repositioned a litle bit lower by WD...(wouldn't you like to buy a 300gb velociraptor for $180?) The ssd and the Matrix raid are starting to menace the raptor position, on a price/speed comparisson... Matrix raid is the best bang for the buck at the moment! Currently i'm going to the ssd inexplored route...

 

[Rich'[ard]]

OMG, how is everybody's 640GB so fast?!?!?! i bought a new WD 750GB yesterday and it's averaging 78mb/s with 15.6ms (benchmarks are on my other thread i posted).

would this Hitachi program benefit me as well? becuase my drive is currently very very slow.