Strange Hard Drive Problem

[freddy]

(no definitive answers yet)

Win98SE, Dell PIII Phoenix Bios.

Two drives on secondary IDE channel cable select, primary 20GB WD,
secondary 8GB WD. Both tested ok using WD DLG. No smart errors. Both
defragged.

Transferring directories, irrespective of size or content, SOME
directories transfer quickly (normally)while others take forever, like
8-10 seconds. Explorer appears to freeze due to slowness, (as with
floppy transfers). Wait,wait,wait, then copies completed. Sometimes
creating new directories the new name does not auto refresh and I must
refresh explorer manually to get new name. Not sure yet-this might
occur just between drives, but I think occurs even on the same drive
(will do further testing).

Run memory diagnostics-no errors. Have not yet benchmarked drives. What
is causing this anomaly? Deleted some startup apps which speeded things
up significantly, but main problem still persists and why does it only
occur on ome dir transfers and not on others, almost as if it is
dependent on here directory is on the drive?

 

[kony]

(no definitive answers yet)

Win98SE, Dell PIII Phoenix Bios.

Two drives on secondary IDE channel cable select, primary 20GB WD,
secondary 8GB WD. Both tested ok using WD DLG. No smart errors. Both
defragged.

Transferring directories, irrespective of size or content, SOME
directories transfer quickly (normally)while others take forever, like
8-10 seconds. Explorer appears to freeze due to slowness, (as with
floppy transfers). Wait,wait,wait, then copies completed. Sometimes
creating new directories the new name does not auto refresh and I must
refresh explorer manually to get new name. Not sure yet-this might
occur just between drives, but I think occurs even on the same drive
(will do further testing).

Run memory diagnostics-no errors. Have not yet benchmarked drives. What
is causing this anomaly? Deleted some startup apps which speeded things
up significantly, but main problem still persists and why does it only
occur on ome dir transfers and not on others, almost as if it is
dependent on here directory is on the drive?

Check the data and power cables and connectors. Try
unplugging and replugging them, and a different data cable
if you have one availabe.

You might also try the HDD manufacturer's diagnostics,
including the full surface scan.

 

[freddy]

Thanks, already did surface scan and reseat of cables. Might be a
DMA/cable issue. Gonna try 80 cables; maybe look for a diag.
program that will give me error rates on hd writes.