hard drive sustained speed too low

[lee.crabtree]

I'm running an AthlonXP on an MSI nForce2-based motherboard. I have
two Maxtor 30GB harddrives, both 7200 rpms. I have DMA enabled in the
BIOS, and Windows reports that both drives are using Ultra DMA 100.
However, all the tests I've run (HDTach, Sandra, Nero Drivespeed, and
the built in controller speed test) report that the sustained speed for
drive one is less than 1 MB/sec, and and the sustained speed for drive
2 is between 2 and 4 MB/sec.

The burst speed for both drives is where I'd expect it: between 60 and
80 MB/sec.

I've spent three days trying to figure this out. It's a complete
mystery to me. Any help anyone might have would be greatly
appreciated.

Lee Crabtree

 

[Clark]

Are both drives installed at the same time?

How do you have the Master/slave jumpers set?

Clark

 

[lee.crabtree]

Yeah, both drives are installed. Drive one is master, drive two is
slave. I've tried putting the drives on separate IDE channels, but
that's done nothing.

Lee

 

[Alceryes]

Yeah, both drives are installed. Drive one is master, drive two is
slave. I've tried putting the drives on separate IDE channels, but
that's done nothing.

Lee

Do you have the nforce IDE drivers installed?
You can tell by going to device manager and looking at the "IDE ATA/ATAPI
controllers".
If you are using them you might want to try reinstalling (or removing) them
and retesting.