Performance Problem: How To Proceed, Maxtor L01P080 Perf prob?

[Venkatnarayan Hariharan]

I have a new Dell Dimension 4600 desktop which already had a 7200rpm
Maxtor 40GB ATA/100 drive. The PC has WindowsXP Home as the OS. This
hard drive has 1 NTFS partition (C. I then installed a second drive
which is a Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm ATA/133 drive (Model# L01P080), that I
split into 2 partitions using their supplied MaxBlast software, viz.
74GB NTFS (D, and 6GB FAT32 (E. After the installation, I noticed
that it takes about 15 seconds to copy a 48MB file from C: to D:,
whereas it takes only 3 seconds to copy the same file from D: to C:. Why
is that? How do I diagnose what is wrong? I am dissapointed to see that
the new drive is being written to so slowly. Is there something wrong in
my installation? I have jumpered both drives as Cable Select (and
connected to the same IDE cable), with the 40GB one at the black end,
and the new 80GB drive in the middle connector. Or is it quite normal
for a 48MB file to be written out in 15 secs? Kindly advise. (Note: the
1st drive is ATA/100, while the 2nd one is ATA/133)

The PC is 10 days old, and the 2nd drive is about 5 days old. I'd like
to know if I have a bad drive in my hands. If so, I can perhaps return
it and get a replacement. If not, any tips on how to diagnose/tune for
performance?

Kindly let me know.

Thanx
/Venkat

 

[kony]

I have a new Dell Dimension 4600 desktop which already had a 7200rpm
Maxtor 40GB ATA/100 drive. The PC has WindowsXP Home as the OS. This
hard drive has 1 NTFS partition (C. I then installed a second drive
which is a Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm ATA/133 drive (Model# L01P080), that I
split into 2 partitions using their supplied MaxBlast software, viz.
74GB NTFS (D, and 6GB FAT32 (E. After the installation, I noticed
that it takes about 15 seconds to copy a 48MB file from C: to D:,
whereas it takes only 3 seconds to copy the same file from D: to C:. Why
is that?

Perhaps you tried to recopy it while it was still in system memory
cache? Do something else for (hours) then try copying it back.

How do I diagnose what is wrong? I am dissapointed to see that
the new drive is being written to so slowly. Is there something wrong in
my installation? I have jumpered both drives as Cable Select (and
connected to the same IDE cable), with the 40GB one at the black end,
and the new 80GB drive in the middle connector. Or is it quite normal
for a 48MB file to be written out in 15 secs?

No, that's not normal on any drive made in the past 6 years or so.
Check Device Manager, if DMA is enabled for the new drive, or actually
check if it's enabled for everything on both IDE channels while you're
looking at it.

Try running the Maxblast diagnostics if the above suggestion doesn't
apply, available for download from Maxtor's website or usually in
retail boxed drives, a floppy or a new floppy can be made from the CD.


Dave