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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
15 Jul 2003, 3:43am

Why is my HDD underperforming?

After many Sandra and PCMark2002 tests, I've come to the conclusion that my 80Gig, 8MB cache (WD800JB) drive is running FAR under par performance.

My Sandra tests (The File System Benchmark) give me a score of 18922kB/s.

PCMark2002 gives me a HDD score of 514! (Compare I used to get a score of 1027 w/ the same mobo. I honestly have no idea what happened.


Could someone help me?

Edit: Almost forgot to mention... I use EnditAll to close EVERYTHING besides essential system apps (such as explorer).
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CPU: Opteron 165 OCed to 2.7GHz (300x9)
Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
Video Card: eVGA 7600 GT OCed		RAM: 2GB OCZ Performance Gold PC3200
Hard Drive: Maxtor MaxLine III 300GB
Cooling: DangerDen TDX + DD Maze4 + PA160 (radiator)		Case: Antec SX1040BII
PSU: SeaSonic S12-500 500W
Audio: Audigy 2 ZS		Mouse: Logitech G7 SE
Optical drives:
Monitors: Sceptre X20G-Naga III + Dell P992
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TheSmJ edited : 15 Jul 2003 at 4:00am .
profdlp
Off To The Gym
profdlp
21,407 Posts
15 Jul 2003, 4:03am

Question Background Tasks?

I had a similar problem. I temporarily shut down F@H (only for a minute, I swear! ), then things were fine again.

What is running in the background? When was your last defrag?


Prof
__________________ ---Prof

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EMT
Veteran Icrontian
EMT
1,070 Posts
15 Jul 2003, 4:40am
I've found that FAH hurts the small reads & writes. How full is the disk? And for Sandra, is that through or bypassing the Windows cache? Can you get an ATTO bench as well and post the screenshot?
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
15 Jul 2003, 5:30am
Well I'll tell you guys this..

Not long ago I attempted a defrag (I use O&O's). I generally do this every 1 to 2 weeks. Out of the 76 gigs available, I am only using 36 (so I have 50 free). Usually it only takes 2 hours max to defrag. This time around, when I last checked the time remaining was at 5 hours, and was steadily rising...

Something fishy is going on... After thinking carefully about the things I have done to the system in the past week, all I did was install the Omega 1.4403 Dets (which gave me a 430 point gain in 3DMark 01, and a gain in 03). Otherwise I haven’t done anything on the system besides gaming.

The video card, CPU, and memory are running better then they ever have before... but the hard drive is running at less than half it's original speed.

Everything was closed (including F@H) during both the defrag, and the benchmarks (again, by using EndItAll). Sandra tested the drive w/o Windows Caching enabled. I'll check the ATTO scores tomorrow, as the machine is at a friend’s for LANing, and I'm currently at home.

I am really, really lost here. I could always stick the drive on another system and see what scores I get, which would at least get me as far as figuring out weather or not it's the mobo, or the HDD itself. Honestly I don’t know which I'd rather be stuck with replacing (I hope it never comes to that).

BTW, my former, faster PCMark score can be seen here
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TheSmJ edited : 15 Jul 2003 at 5:34am .
profdlp
Off To The Gym
profdlp
21,407 Posts
15 Jul 2003, 6:20am

Try...

...and roll back the video driver. If that's the only thing you've changed, that would be a good place to start.

If that doesn't work, test your HD using the manufacturer's utility. Also try stopping any non-critical services and testing again.


Prof
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profdlp edited : 15 Jul 2003 at 6:28am .
TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
15 Jul 2003, 6:35am
I stopped all non-critical services months ago. Trying the WD is a great idea.

I have NO idea why I haven’t thought of simply rolling back the vid driver... being able to roll back is one of the reasons I use XP over 2K in the first place. But I'd be surprised if it slowed my HDD down THAT much, while boosting my vid performance like it did.
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 3:49am
Rolled back Vid driver: Made no diff.
Disabled IDE bus mastering in BIOS: Made no diff.
ATTO scores: Dunno what bench app to use. Any ideas?
WD utility: Dunno what to look for here exactly.... I'll give it a try now.
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profdlp
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profdlp
21,407 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 5:19am
TheSmJ said
WD utility: Dunno what to look for here exactly.... I'll give it a try now.
You can get it at WD's site.
Here: (attached)

Try cleaning out "junk" files, like emptying your browser cache and temp folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temp and C:\Documents and Settings\usernames\Local Settings\Temp. Don't worry if a file is in use - just delete the rest. Do a scandisk test, then see if the defrag will finish. Sometimes if you have a corrupt file it'll get confused and go slow (or hang altogether).

You've run a virus scan w/ the latest definitions, right?

In ATTO, run the Disk Benchmark with Total Length set to 32MB. Have Overlapped I/O checked, all the rest at default.

Good Luck Let us know how it goes.


Prof
Attached Files
File Type: zip dlgdiag10.zip (172.1 KB, 29 views)
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 5:51am
Ok, HERE is the Sandra/PCMark results (I figured out that the BIOS I flashed to defaulted to Ultra DMA - Disabled. Helped my scores a LOT, but it appears to still be under performing.

P.S.

I already have the WD app, I just don’t know which test to run, and what to do with the results.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: image1.jpg Views: 81 Size: 84.8 KB ID: 1544  
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profdlp
Off To The Gym
profdlp
21,407 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 6:46am

dlgdiag

Run dlgdiag.exe (gotta boot from a floppy). If I remember correctly, there is a quick test and a thorough test. It checks to see if your drive is going bad.


Prof
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 6:46am
Just finished the WD Data Lifeguard test (the longer of the two) and there were no errors found.
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profdlp
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profdlp
21,407 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 6:51am

Try...

...the other stuff, like cleaning out the disk and running scandisk.

Data Life Guard tests the physical aspects of the disk, scandisk will look for lost clusters, etc.

Another thing, how full was your drive when you got the good scores. If the disk has a lot more stuff on it (even if the data is fine) you'll see the scores drop somewhat.


Prof
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 7:28am
I cleaned the temp files already. As far as install files and such cluttering up the drive, I run a pretty tight ship [drive] when it comes to clutter like that (one of my computer related pet-peeves) so that shouldn't need attention, least any more than I usually give it...

Nevertheless... I checked around program directories, everything seems in order. All of my install files, or temp install files go into one directory tree from the C: root, and ATM everything in there is something I want to hold on to, and is well labeled.

I looked through WinXP for the scandisk app… At least I think it's supposed to have one... It just has to-... Well, there's an "Error-checking" app that can be found under C: Properties/Tools.. It looks like it's supposed to be the Scandisk app... I'll test the drive with it tomorrow soon as I'm back in front of the comp again.

P.S.
How do the PCMark and Sandra scores look? Sandra shows its comparison drive of the same capacity/buffer size as being faster...


Edit: The drive's used space hasn't grown much at all since I ran that first test. At most another 5 gigs or so. I also wonder if the drive was slow then too... The only reason I could be sure is if someone with the same or similar drive were to run the same tests for me to compare.
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TheSmJ edited : 16 Jul 2003 at 7:35am .
profdlp
Off To The Gym
profdlp
21,407 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 7:36am
TheSmJ said
I looked through WinXP for the scandisk app… At least I think it's supposed to have one... It just has to-... Well, there's an "Error-checking" app that can be found under C: Properties/Tools.. It looks like it's supposed to be the Scandisk app... I'll test the drive with it tomorrow soon as I'm back in front of the comp again.
That's it. You'll have to reboot, then it'll run on startup.

How do the PCMark and Sandra scores look? Sandra shows its comparison drive of the same capacity/buffer size as being faster...
I think until you can get the defrag to run all the way through in a "normal" amount of time you probably won't know if you're comparing Apples to Apples or not.


Prof
(Good Luck!)
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TheLostSwede
Where's the ****ing beers?
TheLostSwede
3,212 Posts
16 Jul 2003, 10:01am
Is the drive connected to the Ide or SATA slot on that motherboard?

I think it has to be the Nividia drivers, did you install any of the newer ones that was pulled from their website?

Ok, hook that drive on the silicon sata and test. Im sure you will get better scores. Im not saying you should use the drive on the sata, but just test it to see if my theory is right. Use the newest silicon driver.
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
19 Jul 2003, 6:54am
It's connected to the IDE port.

I have not installed the pulled Nvidia drivers, nor have I ever used Nvidia's "special" IDE driver.
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