Copy too slow (system slow too)
 

Hi everybody.

My Stystem:
AMD Athlon 64 3200
1Ghz RAM
Slackware 64bits (Slamd64)
Kernel: 2.6.17-rc5 (I had the same problem with kernel 2.6.16)

I have 2 HDD:
1. 80GB IDE Maxtor 7200rpm (as primary master)
2. 250GB IDE Maxtor 7200rpm (as secundary master)
(same IDE cable)

My partitions are:

hda1 NTFS 10487.24
hda2 Linux ext3 10487.24
hda3 Linux ext3 40493.06

hdb1 Linux ext3 62512.13
hdb2 NTFS 62512.13
hdb3 Linux ext3 62512.13
hdb4 Linux ext3 62520.36

running:
$ hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing cached reads: 1212 MB in 2.00 seconds = 605.93 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 6 MB in 3.21 seconds = 1.87 MB/sec

$ hdparm -Tt /dev/hdb

/dev/hdb:
Timing cached reads: 1512 MB in 2.02 seconds = 748.62 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 6 MB in 3.43 seconds = 1.75 MB/sec

The partition hda2 was formated by the system when I installed Linux at first time. The other Linux partitions, I formated like this:

mkfs.ext3 -m 0 /dev/hda3

mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -T largefiles4 /dev/hdb1
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -T largefiles4 /dev/hdb3
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -T largefiles4 /dev/hdb4
(because I use that space mainly for videos and movies).

I also tried without the "-m 0" but I had the same performance but 5% less space.

WHEN COPYING... (with cp command)
small files, I have no problem.
60MB file FROM:
hda3 to hda3: 1 min 10 sec (877 KB/s)
hda3 to hda2: 30 sec (2MB /s)
hda2 to hdb1: 35 sec (1.7MB /s)
hdb1 to hdb4: 40 sec (1.5MB /s)
hdb4 to hdb3: 35 sec (2MB /s)
hdb4 to hdb4: 40 sec (1.5MB /s)
hdb4 to hda2: 35 sec (2MB /s)
hda2 to hda2: 30 sec (2MB /s)

Sometimes, when moving large files I get up to 600 KB/s. (using kde file manager)

I don't know if these speeds are correct, but in windows copying largefiles, from one linux partition to other linux partition (using ext3 library on windows) it spend less time.

I don't care too much about the speed or time, but the main problem, I think, is that all my system slows down. For example, CPU usage during copy process is about from 30% to 90%, but I can not use normally my computer, like if I was executing a huge process (even if I use the "nice" command).

What is wrong?

Thank you.

your timing buffer disk reads are low. what does hdparm /dev/hda? shows?
you man not have dma enabled check it out.mine shows like this
hdparm --help will help you.

Thank you.

Yes, my using_dma was off... (but something strange is happening)

I enable that kernel option (because it was disabled)
Then, I enabled:

hdparm -d1 -u1 -X udma5 /dev/hda (same for /dev/hdb)

/dev/hda:
setting unmaskirq to 1 (on)
setting using_dma to 1 (on)
setting xfermode to 69 (UltraDMA mode5)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)

Now I get:
hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing cached reads: 1884 MB in 2.00 seconds = 940.45 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 86 MB in 3.07 seconds = 28.05 MB/sec
hdparm -tT /dev/hdb

/dev/hdb:
Timing cached reads: 1932 MB in 2.00 seconds = 964.96 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 78 MB in 3.02 seconds = 25.83 MB/sec

When copying the same 60MB file, It spend 40 secs (about the same as before)
but the strange thing is that after copying from hda3 to hda3, I get this:

hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing cached reads: 1964 MB in 2.00 seconds = 980.41 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 6 MB in 3.92 seconds = 1.53 MB/sec

And when running "hdparm -d /dev/hda"

/dev/hda:
using_dma = 0 (off)

So, why dma is turning off by itself? (dmesg is not displaying anything)

FIXED: I used -X udma2 instead of udma5 (even though my hdd support it).

by the way, in slackware, where I configure hdparm to be initialized automatically?

how abt setting up the keep_settings option too?

Thank you.. I just added -k1 (to keep settings).

by the way, for those people reaching this comment, this link can help you too:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...=75181&page=22