A7N8X-E Deluxe - S-ATA Maxtor: Slow reading, fast writing

[Frank van den Bosch]

Hello,

Maybe anyone here can help me further with troubleshooting a weird
behavior. I have tried several things (see further), but noting helps.
Maybe the final conclusion will be that my HD and/or S-ATA controller
are defective or not working properly together?

My system:
Mobo: A7N8X-E Deluxe
link: http://tinyurl.com/6ky7b
Mobo bios version: 1013 (newest)
Onboard S-ATA controller: Silicon Image Sil 3112A RAID Controller
(Sil 3112A bios v4.2.47)
RAM: 512 MB
CPU: XP2600+
OS: Windows XP SP2
HD: S-ATA 80 GB Maxtor DiamondMax Pus 9 Model 6 Y080M0
link: http://tinyurl.com/4bjy6
HD: IDE 40 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 40 VL Ultra ATA 100 Model 34098H4
url: http://tinyurl.com/598tq

Problem:
Reading from my S-ATA disk is too slow, writing speed seems to be fine.
The following test brings me to that conclusion, I've been copying a
file of 700 MB:

Copying between the two disks:
S-ATA to IDE takes 2 min 45 sec; 4,2 MB/s
IDE to S-ATA takes 1 min 4 sec; 10,9 MB/s

Copying on the same disk:
IDE to IDE takes 53 sec; 13,2 MB/s
S-ATA to S-ATA takes 3 min 48; 3,1 MB/s

I think this indicates that reading from my S-ATA disk is to slow, no
idea why!

Remarks:
Both disks are recognized fine in BIOS and Windows (both type and
transfer mode). Disks are defragmented recently, but that shouldn't make
such a big difference.

What I tried but didn't help:
- Connected S-ATA disk to SATA1 and SATA2 on motherboard.
- Other S-ATA cable.
- A7N8X-E Deluxe Uber Bios with Sil 3112A bios v4.2.50
url: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/
- S-ATA power connector instead of molex.
- Standard Windows IDE drivers instead of the nVidia nForce2 ATA drivers.
- Cant use the utility PowerMax from Maxtor because it doesn't recognize
disks on integrated or add-in S-ATA controllers.
link: http://tinyurl.com/475x6
- Disabled firewall / virusscanner.

Maybe I missed something or any other ideas?
Thanks,

Frank

 

[Frank van den Bosch]

Maybe anyone here can help me further with troubleshooting a weird
behavior. I have tried several things (see further), but noting helps.
Maybe the final conclusion will be that my HD and/or S-ATA controller
are defective or not working properly together?

Still no solution for me, but I found many postings from other people
having trouble with some harddrives, especially the hd's from Maxtor see
to give problems sometimes.

Now I would like to buy some 160GB or 200GB S-ATA hd, as the one I have
is getting full and seems to decrease system performance when in use.

Of course, I want to have a hd that works without any problems.
Therefore, I have been searching for a list of hd's with known problems
with the A7N8X-E Deluxe (Sil 3112A S-ATA controller).

Unfortunately, it doesn't exist or I can't find it. So, I was hoping if
you guys could inform me of your own experience with 160GB and 200GB
hd's in combination with the A7N8X-E Deluxe with Sil 3112A S-ATA controller.

Thnx in advance,
Frank

 

[Paul Busby]

Thus spake Frank van den Bosch:

Still no solution for me, but I found many postings from other people
having trouble with some harddrives, especially the hd's from Maxtor
see to give problems sometimes.

Now I would like to buy some 160GB or 200GB S-ATA hd, as the one I
have is getting full and seems to decrease system performance when in use.

Of course, I want to have a hd that works without any problems.
Therefore, I have been searching for a list of hd's with known
problems with the A7N8X-E Deluxe (Sil 3112A S-ATA controller).

Unfortunately, it doesn't exist or I can't find it. So, I was hoping
if you guys could inform me of your own experience with 160GB and 200GB
hd's in combination with the A7N8X-E Deluxe with Sil 3112A S-ATA
controller.
Thnx in advance,
Frank

I'm running a pair of 80GB Hitachi SATA drives (non-RAID) which are both
very fast & quiet. I had a poke about in my registry the other day & noticed
a list of settings for the SI controllers with various h/ds. I can't comment
if the disc size is an issue however. I did update my SI drivers about 4
months ago (1.0.0.51) which may help you if you haven't done so yet. I trust
your discs are running in ATA mode 5?

 

[Frank van den Bosch]

I'm running a pair of 80GB Hitachi SATA drives (non-RAID) which are both
very fast & quiet. I had a poke about in my registry the other day & noticed
a list of settings for the SI controllers with various h/ds. I can't comment
if the disc size is an issue however. I did update my SI drivers about 4
months ago (1.0.0.51) which may help you if you haven't done so yet. I trust
your discs are running in ATA mode 5?

I have the same drivers. My 80 GB Maxtor (only disc on the S-ATA
controller) is running in Ultra DMA mode 6.

Frank