Slow USB Hard drive

mikepower · 01-21-2009, 01:25 PM

Transfer speeds are VERY slow using a usb hard drive OS openSUSE 11. Works fine on a windows system
Have been working on this a few days and have found no fix

any ideas would be of great help

Write speed : 1.6MB/sec ~4GB file
read speed : 0.8MB/sec ~4GB file

Drive Size (partition) 399.4GB
File System NTFS-3g (3.1)

Mount Point /media/media drive
File System fuseblk

Mount Options
rw,nosuid,nodev,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096

Quote:

linux1:/ # hdparm -Tt /dev/sdd

/dev/sdd:
Timing cached reads: 2 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1023.20 kB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 4 MB in 4.00 seconds = 1023.64 kB/sec
linux1:/ # hdparm -Tt /dev/sdd1

/dev/sdd1:
Timing cached reads: 2 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1022.96 kB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 4 MB in 4.00 seconds = 1022.79 kB/sec
linux1:/ # hdparm -Tt /dev/sdd2

/dev/sdd2:
Timing cached reads: 2 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1022.88 kB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 4 MB in 4.00 seconds = 1022.95 kB/sec
linux1:/ #

Quote:

linux1:/ # lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 059f:0951 LaCie, Ltd
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 03f0:0d17 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1012
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Mount is not listed in fstab, mounted 'on the fly' by fuse i do beleave.

Added 90-storage-nosync.fdi to try and remove the sync option
/usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/

Quote:

<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="block.is_volume" bool="true">
<match key="volume.fsusage" string="filesystem">
<match key="@info.parent:storage.bus" string="usb">
<merge key="volume.policy.mount_option.sync" type="bool">false</merge>
</match>
</match>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>

kilgoretrout · 01-23-2009, 07:07 AM

Is the ehci module loading? It's needed for USB 2.0 speeds and you appear to be getting USB 1.x speeds. Check the output of:

# lsmod

to find out.

mikepower · 01-24-2009, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout

Is the ehci module loading? It's needed for USB 2.0 speeds and you appear to be getting USB 1.x speeds. Check the output of:

# lsmod

to find out.

echi is not loaded and i can not find it on my system.

the driver modules is uchi-hdc not echi. do they preform the same function?

mikepower · 01-25-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 0074
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 4
I/O ports at b800 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

Quote:

00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 0074
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
I/O ports at b000 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout:
Is the ehci module loading? It's needed for USB 2.0 speeds and you appear to be getting USB 1.x speeds.

The ehci driver / module is not running or found anywhere on my system. it is however using the uhci-hcd drivers.

is the uhci-hcd driver a USB 2.0 driver. if not, How do i get it to load the ehci driver?

does fuse have any issues that may cause the slow speed?

Getting desperate here.. i may just have to move the drive to a windows system.. Please don't make me use windows Please!

tredegar · 01-25-2009, 08:45 AM

On my machine (with USB 2.0 ports)

Code:

tred@vaio:~$ lsmod | grep usb
usbhid                 32128  0
hid                    38784  1 usbhid
usbcore               146412  4 usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
tred@vaio:~$

My hardware as seen by lspci -vv

Code:

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Sony Corporation Unknown device 81b9
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 0
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
        Region 0: Memory at 80004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME+
        Capabilities: [58] Debug port

You should try lsmod -vv to see if we can get some more info on your USB hardware.

Quote:

How do i get it to load the ehci driver?

So if you don't have ehci_hcd loaded, load it (as root) like this:

Code:

modprobe ehci_hcd

Quote:

is the uhci-hcd driver a USB 2.0 driver

No, it's 1.x

I am puzzled as to why your distro isn't using the correct driver, so please post the information requested.

mikepower · 01-26-2009, 09:22 PM

Tried looking at the sys/bus/usb but i think someone went nuts with the symliks and i got very lost

lsmod | grep usb

Quote:

usb_storage 102280 2
usblp 30848 0
usbcore 164812 4 usb_storage,usblp,uhci_hcd
scsi_mod 168436 5 usb_storage,sr_mod,sg,sd_mod,libata

onboard usb controlers
lspci -vv

Quote:

00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 0074
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 4
Region 4: I/O ports at d800 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: AOPEN Inc. Device 0074
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin D routed to IRQ 11
Region 4: I/O ports at d000 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

tredegar · 01-27-2009, 03:12 AM

lspci and lsusb is showing that your motherboard's USB controller / hub is capable of USB 1.1, not 2.0
Maybe time to buy a PCI USB 2.0 card?

Shadow_7 · 01-27-2009, 03:55 AM

lspci should list (EHCI). UHCI (or OHCI) is the USB driver. But EHCI is the usb 2.0 driver extension. Without EHCI, you're stuck at USB 1.1 or worse. It doesn't always have to be a module, it could be compiled into the kernel. Not that it matters if it exists / is loaded or not, if you don't have a USB 2.0 bus. CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=y (from /boot/config)

Also NTFS-3G in linux is slower than NTFS in windows. Which might be where you're noticing the difference between OS's. In either case, my USB docking station only does about 3MB/s with EXT3. It's supposed to be a 10MB/s drive, but over USB, you're not exactly capable of high sustained bitrates. That's why there's firewire, and hopefully USB3 in the near future.

And in the case of my docking stating doing Input and Output doesn't work to well. i.e. Playing .WAV files from a previously ripped CD, while creating new WAV files from a different CD. In this particular instance there even appears to be some conflict with the mouse driver(s) while using the drive in that manner. There's some nomux or demux kernel parm that helps, but that ultimately crashes my X, so I just live with the temporary disabling of the mouse while performing such tasks.

HTH

mikepower · 01-27-2009, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tredegar

lspci and lsusb is showing that your motherboard's USB controller / hub is capable of USB 1.1, not 2.0
Maybe time to buy a PCI USB 2.0 card?

I will check on the motherboard. if that is the case i think i will just have to shoot my self. i ASSUMED that the mobo was new enough to have USB 2, and we all know what ass-u-me will get you.

Thanks to everyone who replied, i will now go and hang my head in shame and pick up a pci usb card.

tredegar · 01-27-2009, 07:41 AM

Checking the MoBo is a good idea

If it says it supports USB 2.0, then
- check there's nothing in your BIOS settings that could be interfering with USB2.0 detection
eg. look carefullly at USB settings, & make sure "PnP Bios" is set to NO if you have that option.

- Try a live distro (eg knoppix) - how does that see your hardware?