Hello everyone!

Just a few quick questions...

I recently built an entirely new machine this past weekend, and have been spending the week getting things up, running, and configured.
specs:
abit nf7-s v2.0
amd 3200+ barton (400mhz fsb)
1gig dual channel ddr (400mhz)

I pulled my old (bought about 2-3 months ago) HD's out of the old machine to use on the new one. reformatted, repartitioned the drives.

hdparm -I /dev/hda results:

/dev/hda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: WDC WD400BB-00DEA0
Serial Number: WD-WMAD19600549
Firmware Revision: 05.03E05
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: 78165360
device size with M = 1024*1024: 38166 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 40020 MBytes (40 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 the jumper
Checksum: correct


And the results of my hdparm -tT /dev/hda:

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.28 seconds =457.14 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 2.23 seconds = 28.70 MB/sec


I guess my question is, is this a reasonable value (this was the average over many tries), for this disk, or should I be expecting more performance out of it?

I noticed the * next to udma2. I am guessing that this means that this is the current mode it is running in. Is there a way to get it to use something higher (and would it make a difference?)?

If I was seeking better performance, what would be a good suggestion for a path to follow? The board has SATA-RAID built in that I could possibly use...

Any thoughts?

TIA for all the help!

"If I was seeking better performance, what would be a good suggestion for a path to follow? The board has SATA-RAID built in that I could possibly use..."

When you access a disk the limiting factors are the seek time, the rotational speed, and the amount of disk memory (if any). Moving the disks from a slower machine to a faster one will not speed up disk access any.

Also when you measure disk speed you have to disable the cache. Otherwise cache efficiency, or the lack thereof, will override all other considerations.

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Steve Stites

Silicon Image does not support LINUX very well. I mean they do not supply open source modules (drivers). You are better off disabling it. I suggest getting Highpoint 1520 or 1540 with out using raid because their modules (drivers) are open source. This means when ever you upgrade your kernel, you can easily compile the Highpoint modules. Then use one WD 36.7 SATA hard drive or the Raptor lines. This will speed up accessing files almost two times.

Adding what jailbait said, hdparm only measures raw speed. The speed that matters is the total speed of both filesystem and hard drive. A program like bonnie can measure the performance of the filesystem and the hard drive. Giving you near accurate results. You can try using time and dd that makes an image to the hard drive from /dev/zero, but it has about 50% error or more.

To use higher DMA modes (if possible) use hdparm -d1 -X udma4 /dev/hda or "udma5" or whatever mode you wish to try. After each successful setting I suggest you run hdparm -tT /dev/hda to see if it gets better or worse.


Håkan