debian:/home/franz# hdparm -itT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

Model=WDC WD800BB-00CAA1, FwRev=17.07W17, SerialNo=WD-WMA8E3752094
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=40
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=156301488
IORDY=on/off, 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: device does not report version: 1 2 3 4 5

Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.48 seconds =266.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.40 seconds = 45.71 MB/sec

Funny, ide seems to be better than scsi...

I have receive the following performance with hdparm for some time with both 2.4.21-x and 2.6.0-x.
*** Do not try this unless your sure of what you are doing ***
issue and hdparm -I /dev/hdx to see if you drive supports these parm's.

hdparm -qX69 -qd1 -qu1 -qm16 -qc3 -qA1 -qa24 -qk1 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.32 seconds =402.58 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 4.04 seconds = 15.85 MB/sec

/dev/hda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: WDC WD600BB-00CAA1
Serial Number: WD-WCA8E5186920
Firmware Revision: 17.07W17
Standards:
Supported: 5 4 3 2
Likely used: 6
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 16383 16383
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
--
CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064
LBA user addressable sectors: 117231408
device size with M = 1024*1024: 57241 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 60022 MBytes (60 GB)
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
bytes avail on r/w long: 40 Queue depth: 1
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16
Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254
DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
* READ BUFFER cmd
* WRITE BUFFER cmd
* Host Protected Area feature set
* Look-ahead
* Write cache
* Power Management feature set
Security Mode feature set
SMART feature set
* Device Configuration Overlay feature set
Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
SET MAX security extension
* DOWNLOAD MICROCODE cmd
* SMART self-test
* SMART error logging
Security:
supported
not enabled
not locked
not frozen
not expired: security count
not supported: enhanced erase
HW reset results:
CBLID- above Vih
Device num = 0 determined by CSEL
Checksum: correct

I got 13.7 MB/sec on a western digital model wd300BBRTL
I don't know what the other drive is but it runs at 4.46MB/sec And I always thought the second drive was faster because it is a SCSI. Fooled me! HAHA

Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.40 seconds =320.00 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.39 seconds = 46.04 MB/sec

This is on a Western Digital 40gb 7200rpm 8mb cache drive.



--
Abit KD7-G Motherboard
Athlon XP 2600+
1024MB RAM
Sony DVD Burner
GeForce4 64MB AGP
40gb 7200rpm with Slackware 9.0 (2.4.21)
80gb 7200rpm with Windows 2000 for video editing

For what it's worth, here you are. B is a new 80g WD and A is an older 80g Maxtop.

/dev/hdb:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.53 seconds = 41.83 MB/sec

/dev/hda:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 4.18 seconds = 15.31 MB/sec

Seagate U-Series ST380020A 80GB 5400RPM 8.9ms
CMD0649 Ultra ATA/100 controller
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 2.71 seconds = 23.62 MB/sec

Machine is PIII 450 640MB RAM RH 9.
It made a big difference when I added the CMD controller over the native ATA/66 controller.

John

A little update with 2.6.0-test4 vs. 2.6.0-test1

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1756 MB in 2.00 seconds = 876.82 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 140 MB in 3.01 seconds = 46.57 MB/sec

/sbin/hdparm -qX69 -qd1 -qu1 -qm16 -qc3 /dev/hda

think i'll share.

root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

Model=WDC WD400BB-00AUA1, FwRev=18.20D18, SerialNo=WD-WMA6R2575870
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=40
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78165360
IORDY=on/off, 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: device does not report version:

* signifies the current active mode

root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 748 MB in 2.00 seconds = 374.00 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 98 MB in 3.06 seconds = 32.03 MB/sec
root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -i /dev/hdb

/dev/hdb:

Model=WDC WD400BB-18DEA0, FwRev=05.03E05, SerialNo=WD-WMAD15073963
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=40
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78125000
IORDY=on/off, 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: device does not report version:

* signifies the current active mode

root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -Tt /dev/hdb

/dev/hdb:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 756 MB in 2.00 seconds = 378.00 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 140 MB in 3.04 seconds = 46.05 MB/sec
root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -i /dev/hde

/dev/hde:

Model=Maxtor 6Y060L0, FwRev=YAR41VW0, SerialNo=Y290KYQE
Config={ Fixed }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=57
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=120103200
IORDY=on/off, 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 *udma6
AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: (null):

* signifies the current active mode

root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -Tt /dev/hde

/dev/hde:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 756 MB in 2.01 seconds = 376.12 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 142 MB in 3.00 seconds = 47.33 MB/sec
root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -i /dev/hdg

/dev/hdg:

Model=WDC WD600BB-75CAA0, FwRev=16.06V16, SerialNo=WD-WMA8F1880069
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=40
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=117187500
IORDY=on/off, 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: device does not report version:

* signifies the current active mode

root@localhost jaws75 # hdparm -Tt /dev/hdg

/dev/hdg:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 760 MB in 2.00 seconds = 380.00 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 140 MB in 3.03 seconds = 46.20 MB/sec

no complaints here.
I get awsome transfer speeds between drives.

fyi
amd 1.33 Gh
512 Mb sdram
os= Yoper v1.1
hde & hdg are on promise raid controler

Okay, here's my info. This is on a new Dell PowerEdge 400SC.

Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.18 seconds = 54.24 MB/sec

Model=IC35L090AVV207-0, FwRev=V23OA69A, SerialNo=VNVC02G3D2X44T
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=52
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=1821kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=156250000
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,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=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a: 2 3 4 5 6

an old maxtor 10GB drive from 1998 in an hp pavillion, i dont know the drive specs exactly but here is what i got:

Timing buffered disk reads: 64MB in 5.68 seconds = 11.27 MB/sec

and i also have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root....but that who cares.

Well, the mail is your Linux emailling you with status reports probably.

Try this:
Open a Konsole in KDE (looks like a TV with a shell over lower right quarter or a plain TV). This gives you a text shell.

in the open thing you are logged in as whatever user you opened it with (DO NOT try running KDE to get root access, stuff will become only root and you can wipe your whole hard drive with about 15 kystrokes as root, so go very slow and careful when logged in as root)

For this, you want root powers to do what follows, and here is how to get them:
In the text thing in your KDE you will see a bunch of stuff ending with your user name and then a blinking block or underline.
You want to assume root powers temproarily and that requires a program called sudo (Switch User and DO as that user). To get to root powers it can be called this way:
su - root
Do it, type in line above. SPaces before and after dash are required in my Linuxes here for that one command.

Now, on my Mandrake, they linked in the default mail agent at install and I call it with 'mail', like this:
mail
Type that in and see what you get. Most linux things will show some help if you type ' -help' after the command, so to learn a little bit about mail try:
mail -help
or
mail -?
or
mail -h
and see how it reacts.

This should get you some information.
for more, try:
info mail
man mail
the letter q quits the helper things like MANual and INFOrmation.

Read the mail, see what Linux is trying to say, if you do not understand ask us.


As to HD, leave it be right now, without knowing many more details of your Hardware I would be hard put to tell you what settings would work or not with a machine that old (hard drives have different ways of talking to different controllers, though if you know how to use hdparm to get help the most likely single helpful command to try would be 'hdparm -d1 dev/hda/' unless Linux is on another hard drive). Try 'man hdparm' and then 'info hdparm' and what you do not understand real well do not try, but start to grasp how Linux talks to your HD.

John.

Can this be right.

I just figured out how to run the HDPRAM and here are my results

Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.39 seconds = 46.04 MB/sec

10 GIG ata drive....

brian

/dev/hda:

Model=SAMSUNG SV1204H, FwRev=RK100-15, SerialNo=0450J1CW201470
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=34902, SectSize=554, ECCbytes=4
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=4047/16/255, CurSects=16511760, LBA=yes, LBAsects=234493056
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
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.96 seconds =133.33 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 2.50 seconds = 25.60 MB/sec

Huh? It's just a plain old 120Gb 5400Rpm drive. There's no way it could max out the bandwith like that in the 128 MB test.

It's interesting seeing some of the scores posted at the beginning of this thread.

This is a 40 GB Samsung should be about the same thing harware wise
/dev/hda:

Model=SAMSUNG SV4002H, FwRev=QP100-07, SerialNo=0382J1FR964504
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=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78242976
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 -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1732 MB in 2.00 seconds = 865.13 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 92 MB in 3.04 seconds = 30.28 MB/sec

The buffer-cache reads really depend more on the system bus.

Timing buffered disk reads: 128 MB in 3.03 seconds = 42.31 MB/sec
Timing buffer-cache reads: 1728 MB in 2.00 seconds = 863.70 MB/sec


after "tweaking", my results were this:

Timing buffer-cache reads: 1744 MB in 2.00 seconds = 872.13 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 128 MB in 3.02 seconds = 42.33 MB/sec