Since I enabled hdparm in my hard drive the speed didn't increase but it slowed down. I would like to know if these are the right settings for my drive.
hdparm -tT /dev/hda
bash-2.05b# hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1416 MB in 2.00 seconds = 708.11 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 96 MB in 3.03 seconds = 31.70 MB/sec

/dev/hda:

Model=SAMSUNG SV8004H, FwRev=QR100-07, SerialNo=0429J1FRB15155
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=38997, SectSize=619, ECCbytes=4
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=1945kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=17475/15/63, CurSects=16513875, LBA=yes, LBAsects=156368016
IORDY=yes, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 1:

* signifies the current active mode

bash-2.05b# hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 0 (off)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 1 (on)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 256 (on)
geometry = 65535/16/63, sectors = 156368016, start = 0
bash-2.05b#

When doing hard drive test, the most objective results can be obtained with boot into runlevel 1 (telinit 1) and kill all programs and services uneeded, then run hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

it is still the same

Well I put my output to quiet you :
hdparm -Tt /dev/hda
/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 692 MB in 2.00 seconds = 345.36 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 108 MB in 3.01 seconds = 35.86 MB/sec

And I'm happy with that

Here's some info on tests on different versions/kernels of Slackware :
Slackware 9.1 - 2.4.26 stock kernel :
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.38 seconds = 46.38 MB/sec
Slackware 10.0 - 2.4.26 stock kernel:
Timing buffered disk reads: 142 MB in 3.01 seconds = 47.18 MB/sec
Slackware 10.0 - 2.6.7 custom kernel:
Timing buffered disk reads: 122 MB in 3.02 seconds = 40.40 MB/sec

So Slack 10 is a little faster then Slack 9.1 using the same kernel. Kernel 2.6.7 eats performance .

You should be glad:

hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 1.01 seconds =127.00 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 3.60 seconds = 17.77 MB/sec

My laptop is even worse, I get buffered reads in the 3 MB/sec area, with hdparm tweaked. It is a very old laptop though.

I am not getting what I am supposed to. I did some tweaks and it's still the same.
Thanks