SATA negotiated speed reduce disk drive performance

All MacBook Pro computers with SATA drives after mid 2010 have their performanced reduced by negotiating down the drive via software. Is there a fix that corrects this? I wanted to upgrade my drive but this limitation seems to make it impractical since you are getting the actual preformance of the drive anyway and the upgrade will most likely result in the drive still performing at a slower speed. e.g. 3.0 negotiated down to 1.5.

Hey Guys,
I'm upgrading my Apple SSD (TS256A, toshiba) to an OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6 Gbps (Sata v3) SSD. I ran ATTO in the bootcamp Win7 and found a limit at 120 MB/s, exactly what one would expect from a Sata 1.5 Negotiated Link Speed. So I went digging and found page after page of people and one good solution, a firmware upgrade to 1.8 from December 2009. I'm about to run it to see if this gives me 3 Gbps on the interface, which should put me at the 240MB/s limit of SATA v2 (3Gbps). I'll ultimately put the drive in a 2011 MBP 13 and get Sata v3 (6Gbps) and 500 or so.
See the third post, by JoeyR
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2780517?start=0&tstart=0
Link to firmware:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3561
http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacBook_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_7_
Problems: The package says the computer does not need it. I'll keep working on it. If you work it out, please share.
Best,
fellow

Similar Messages

Hard Disk Drive not Recognized as Startup Disk

Hi:
I am an experienced Mac user, and have been for 20+ years. But I need a little help.
I recently purchased a Western Digital 'Caviar Green" SATA internal 3.5" disk drive (model number WD15EARS-00Z5B1). I installed it into my Mac Pro as I have done with several other drives in the past.
After installing it I loaded Snow Leopard and attempted to make it my startup disk. However, my Mac Pro will not recognize it as a startup disk. I wrote to Western Digital to ask if they had a firmware update to fix this issue, and they responded with this:
"Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is John E.
It is possible that the drive may not be compatible with your computer. Western Digital does not have hardware compatibility information. You may need to contact Apple to see if this drive is on their Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
Sincerely,
John E.
Western Digital Service and Support"
The reason for this post is that I find it hard to believe that a supposedly industry-standard SATA drive would not be supported by Mac OS X. My current feeling is that the drive is faulty, but Western Digital is pointing the finger at Apple.
Any help re: this problem would be appreciated. Oh, and before I contacted WD about this, I ran disk utility and disk permissions repair on the new WD disk drive, and I reset my Mac system's PRAM. Is there something else that I could try?
Thanks,
-AstraPoint

Looks like you are not alone:
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/WD-1-5TB-Green-drives-Useful-as-door-stops/t d-p/1217/page/2
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/WDC-WD15EARS-00Z5B1-awful-performance/m-p/52 42
I'm actually a WD FanBoy. I won't be buying any of their external drives or "Green" drives though.
I love their Desktop and Enterprise class drives. There seems to be a quality difference of Night and
Day between some of the products in their product lineup.
Kj ♘

Will the1TB SATA Hard Disk Drive Kit for Mac Pro now in the Mac Store work with my Mac Pro1,1?

Will the 1TB SATA Hard Disk Drive Kit for Mac Pro now in the Mac Store work with my Mac Pro1,1? My details of my Mac Pro is as follows:
Model Name:          Mac Pro
Model Identifier:          MacPro1,1
Processor Name:          Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:          2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors:          2
Total Number Of Cores:          4
L2 Cache (per processor):          4 MB
Memory:          6 GB
Bus Speed:          1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version (system):          1.7f10
Hardware UUID:          00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F2059956

It will say "green" and use less power, park its head probably, and while early units had some trouble they have evolved. Variable rpm or slower rpm also. They can be much less expenisve way to add storage.
WD Caviar Green
WD Green 2TB
For the system, 640GB is a nice size. Look for 64MB cache to help insure your drive is the latest models which will also say "6G SATA 3" which is fine.
WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gb
WD Black Caviar 2TB
larger means higher density platter, I find the 1TB and larger Blacks to run hotter/warmer and companys want drives to be able to run warmer or with less cooling. - but for really cold drives other than SSD I have found all my WD 10K VRs to have the absolute coldest temps.
Just noticed Amazon having better prices than Newegg on 1TB - and WD and Hitachi.
Green for your external backup, for media libraries that are not high volume access, to run cool and less power. Enterprise for system and performance. TimeMachine sometimes makes a poor backup method with some green cases.

How can I optimize my hard disk drive usage and performance in Windows 8 or Windows 7?

QuestionHow can I optimize my hard disk drive usage and performance in Windows 8 or Windows 7?
AnswerThere are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your hard disk drive is used optimally.
Use Toshiba HDD Protection
Many Toshiba laptops come with a program called Toshiba HDD Protection pre-installed. This program helps to protect your hard disk drive from being damaged due to falls or impacts. By default, it should already be enabled. You might be tempted to lower the detection levels in this application, but doing so could cause your hard disk drive to be damaged. Remember that while the application can reduce the chance of damage, you should still avoid allowing the laptop to fall or suffer rapid impacts.
For more information on this utility, see the following article:
TOSHIBA HDD Protection
Optimize the drive
Windows 8 and Windows 7 optimize hard disk drives automatically through a process called defragmentation. Unless you've disabled this, you don't need to do anything. If you have disabled this and want to run the process, you can still do so.
In Windows 8, search for "Defrag" at the Windows Start screen and select "Defragment and optimize your drives."
In Windows 7, search for "Defrag" in the Start Menu's search field and select "Disk defragmenter."
You can use this tool to optimize your hard disk drives, allowing Windows to find needed files faster.
Remove items from startup
Some applications run automatically when Windows starts. This can add additional functionality, but it also decreases the performance of your computer. Sometimes you might want to disable certain programs from starting automatically.
In Windows 8, search for "Task Manager" at the Start screen. Select the "Startup" tab. Select an application you'd like to disable from starting automatically and then click the "Disable" button in the lower-right.
In Windows 7, type "msconfig" in the Start Menu's search field and press ENTER. Uncheck the boxes next to applications you'd like to disable from starting automatically.
You should be sure of the purpose of an application before disabling it from starting automatically. Some applications might be important. If in doubt, you might consider searching on the Web to discover more information about a program. Remember that if you find that you disabled something vital, you can always re-enable it.
For more information, please see the following video:

QuestionHow can I optimize my hard disk drive usage and performance in Windows 8 or Windows 7?
AnswerThere are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your hard disk drive is used optimally.
Use Toshiba HDD Protection
Many Toshiba laptops come with a program called Toshiba HDD Protection pre-installed. This program helps to protect your hard disk drive from being damaged due to falls or impacts. By default, it should already be enabled. You might be tempted to lower the detection levels in this application, but doing so could cause your hard disk drive to be damaged. Remember that while the application can reduce the chance of damage, you should still avoid allowing the laptop to fall or suffer rapid impacts.
For more information on this utility, see the following article:
TOSHIBA HDD Protection
Optimize the drive
Windows 8 and Windows 7 optimize hard disk drives automatically through a process called defragmentation. Unless you've disabled this, you don't need to do anything. If you have disabled this and want to run the process, you can still do so.
In Windows 8, search for "Defrag" at the Windows Start screen and select "Defragment and optimize your drives."
In Windows 7, search for "Defrag" in the Start Menu's search field and select "Disk defragmenter."
You can use this tool to optimize your hard disk drives, allowing Windows to find needed files faster.
Remove items from startup
Some applications run automatically when Windows starts. This can add additional functionality, but it also decreases the performance of your computer. Sometimes you might want to disable certain programs from starting automatically.
In Windows 8, search for "Task Manager" at the Start screen. Select the "Startup" tab. Select an application you'd like to disable from starting automatically and then click the "Disable" button in the lower-right.
In Windows 7, type "msconfig" in the Start Menu's search field and press ENTER. Uncheck the boxes next to applications you'd like to disable from starting automatically.
You should be sure of the purpose of an application before disabling it from starting automatically. Some applications might be important. If in doubt, you might consider searching on the Web to discover more information about a program. Remember that if you find that you disabled something vital, you can always re-enable it.
For more information, please see the following video:

Mac Mini 2014 and SATA HDD speed/negotiated speed settings question?

I have a new Mac Mini 2014 2.6GHz i5 - with the Hitachi 1TB 5400RPM drive running OS 10.10.1. It is working well and is a worthy replacement for our 2007 Mini.
Today I was looking around the specs and settings and noticed the SATA settings for the HDD drive showed the link speed at 6 Gigabit but the negotiated speed is set to 3 Gigabit. I have searched around and read about people having issues with other chipsets or hard drive firmware incompatibilities with other models of Mac. Why would this be? Is it due to the drive only supporting 3 Gigabit? Searching for the drive model seems to indicate it supports 6 Gigabit. Thank you in advance for all responses.

I greatly appreciate the prompt responses and link information. So, really other than a modern SSD, or high RPM drive, you will not reach the benefits of a 6Gb connection let alone possibly max out a 3Gb connection. Which for a mild daily use Mini would be overkill.
Thank you.

I have an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 and for them I use I cloud I have also 1 pc windows and at work place I use windows pc ; until now my files are stored on an external disk drive could' I use iCloud to perform the backup of my external disk drive ? Thanks

I have an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 and for them I use I cloud I have also 1 pc windows and at work place I use windows pc ; until now my files are stored on an external disk drive could' I use iCloud to perform the backup of my external disk drive ? Thanks
Loredano

These are the options you have.
Budget $1299.
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
Best.

Z87-GD65 can't use 3TB disk drives on Intel SATA ports

I've been happily using my Z87-GD65 for several months now with a 256G SSD for Windows 8.1, and 4*2T spinning Seagate drives. I decided it was time to make 'em bigger. So I plugged in a 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 on one of the Intel SATA ports. The motherboard doesn't recognize there's a drive there at all. If I go ahead and boot, it's very slow to come up and Windows does recognize the drive, but it's unusably slow and eventually just hangs.
Ok... Flash the BIOS on the disk. No better.
Flash the MB BIOS. No better.
Plug in a WD 3T Red drive. Same exact symptoms.
Try different Intel SATA ports. Same symptoms.
Both drives work fine on two other completely different systems (both old LGA1155 systems).
Plug the drive in to the ASM1061 ports on the Z87-GD65 and poof... works like a champ. 170MB/sec from the Seagate, 150MB/sec from the WD.
Well, that's something, but I had intended to replace the 4*2T drives with 4*3T drives. Using the ASM ports is not the answer.
I checked the hard disk drive test report and it claims the ST3000DM001 was tried and works. So I'm pretty stumped. Old MB BIOS didn't work, new MB BIOS doesn't work, old Seagate firmware doesn't work, new Seagate firmware doesn't work, WD doesn't work, multiple ports don't work.
Surely other people are using large drives on these MB's.
Hints?

It does help knowing other people are getting the same hardware to work. Gives me hope.
My first thought was "ain't no way it's the OS" since the MB isn't showing the drives on the display of SATA devices. But just to do a quick check I slipped in a Fedora drive and booted and wow... no problems at all with using the 3T drives. Motherboard still claims no knowledge of them, but Fedora uses 'em fine.
ok... Update the Intel chipset drivers and the IRST and reboot and... it's better. Still broken, but better. Takes about a minute to boot instead of the usual 12 seconds, but once it's up it's working ok best I can tell. So it's getting hung up on something during boot.
Fine... reset the CMOS, PITA though that is since I have to yank the SLI graphics card to get to it.
Put it back together, boot, and... Windows won't boot.
I'm about ready to throw a tantrum but get it together and just start trying things. Yank all the drives but the SSD. No. Boot from Fedora. No. Yank the second graphics card. YES! Put it back in again. YES! Guess I didn't get it seated right the first time, or something. Sure felt ok going in, but I won't argue with results.
Boot W8.1 and... bingo... up in 11 seconds with 3*3T drives in it. And the CMOS claims to see the drives now.
Stripe 'em in Windows software and CrystalMark says it can read 490MB/s and write 450MB/s.
That'll do. Thanks.

SATA hard disk driver

hi
i got a SATA1 hard disk from toshiba model mk2555gsx and when i try to install any operating system it says it cant find any disk installed, my laptop is gateway model m-6804, i´ve donwloaded SATA drivers for my laptop ad it doest work, and i dont find hard disk driver from toshiba, please a dont know what else to do. thak you

First go into the bios and verify that the hard drive is recognized by the bios. If it isn't, then you either have a defective hard drive or a defective motherboard controller. According to the specs on that Gateway model it uses the same chipset that a lot of Toshiba Laptops use so it should support that hard drive. Please note that while Vista and Windows 7 have built in support for SATA hard drives, XP and Windows 2000 do not and will require integrating the SATA drivers into the XP install disk. ME, 98, and all previous versions of Windows do NOT have ANY support for SATA and will NOT work with SATA period.
Next, Toshiba's Hard Drive Support is located at http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=ServicesSupport/TechnicalSupport This forum is ONLY for Toshiba Laptops and Projectors.
If you don't post your COMPLETE model number it's very difficult to assist you. Please try to post in complete sentences with punctuation, capitals, and correct spelling. Toshiba does NOT provide any direct support in these forums. All support is User to User in their spare time.

Comparison of SSD with hard disk drives

Attribute or characteristic
Solid-state drive
Hard disk drive
Spin-up time
Instantaneous.
May take several seconds. With a large number of drives, spin-up may need to be staggered to limit total power drawn.
Random access time[45]
About 0.1 ms - many times faster than HDDs because data is accessed directly from the flash memory
Ranges from 5–10 ms due to the need to move the heads and wait for the data to rotate under the read/write head
Read latency time[46]
Generally low because the data can be read directly from any location; In applications where hard disk seeks are the limiting factor, this results in faster boot and application launch times (see Amdahl's law).[47]
Generally high since the mechanical components require additional time to get aligned
Consistent read performance[48]
Read performance does not change based on where data is stored on an SSD
If data is written in a fragmented way, reading back the data will have varying response times
Defragmentation
SSDs do not benefit from defragmentation because there is little benefit to reading data sequentially and any defragmentation process adds additional writes on the NAND flash that already have a limited cycle life.[49][50]
HDDs may require defragmentation after continued operations or erasing and writing data, especially involving large files or where the disk space becomes low. [51]
Acoustic levels
SSDs have no moving parts and make no sound
HDDs have moving parts (heads, spindle motor) and have varying levels of sound depending upon model
Mechanical reliability
A lack of moving parts virtually eliminates mechanical breakdowns
HDDs have many moving parts that are all subject to failure over time
Susceptibility toenvironmental factors[47][52][53]
No flying heads or rotating platters to fail as a result of shock, altitude, or vibration
The flying heads and rotating platters are generally susceptible to shock, altitude, and vibration
Magneticsusceptibility[citation needed]
No impact on flash memory
Magnets or magnetic surges can alter data on the media
Weight and size[52]
The weight of flash memory and the circuit board material are very light compared to HDDs
Higher performing HDDs require heavier components than laptop HDDs that are light, but not as light as SSDs
Parallel operation[citation needed]
Some flash controllers can have multiple flash chips reading and writing different data simultaneously
HDDs have multiple heads (one per platter) but they are connected, and share one positioning motor.
Write longevity
Solid state drives that use flash memory have a limited number of writes over the life of the drive.[54][55][56][57] SSDs based on DRAM do not have a limited number of writes.
Magnetic media do not have a limited number of writes.
Software encryption limitations
NAND flash memory cannot be overwritten, but has to be rewritten to previously erased blocks. If a software encryption program encrypts data already on the SSD, the overwritten data is still unsecured, unencrypted, and accessible (drive-based hardware encryption does not have this problem). Also data cannot be securely erased by overwriting the original file without special "Secure Erase" procedures built into the drive.[58]
HDDs can overwrite data directly on the drive in any particular sector.
Cost
As of October 2010, NAND flash SSDs cost about (US)$1.40–2.00 per GB
As of October 2010, HDDs cost about (US)$0.10/GB for 3.5 in and $0.20/GB for 2.5 in drives
Storage capacity
As of October 2010, SSDs come in different sizes up to 2TB but are typically 512GB or less[59]
As of October 2010, HDDs are typically 2-3TB or less
Read/write performance symmetry
Less expensive SSDs typically have write speeds significantly lower than their read speeds. Higher performing SSDs and those from particular manufacturers have a balanced read and write speed.[citation needed]
HDDs generally have symmetrical read and write speeds
Free block availability andTRIM
SSD write performance is significantly impacted by the availability of free, programmable blocks. Previously written data blocks that are no longer in use can be reclaimed by TRIM; however, even with TRIM, fewer free, programmable blocks translates into reduced performance.[25][60][61]
HDDs are not affected by free blocks or the operation (or lack) of the TRIM command
Power consumption
High performance flash-based SSDs generally require 1/2 to 1/3 the power of HDDs; High performance DRAM SSDs generally require as much power as HDDs and consume power when the rest of the system is shut down.[62][63]
High performance HDDs generally require between 12-18 watts; drives designed for notebook computers are typically 2 watts.

I wish I could get my head round the SSD vs HDD with a NLE rig. My builder is trying to persuade me to use a Toshiba 256Gb THNSNC256GBSJ for OS and programs, and it is only NZ$20 more expensive than the 450Gb 10k rpm VelociRaptor I was originally planing to use for the OS. That sounds suspiciously cheap to me, and I am concerned about the finite writes to SSD - mainly because I don't really understand it.
The rest of the new build is
3930K
Gigabyte X79-UD5
8 x DDR3 1600
Coolermaster with 750W PSU
Geforce GTX570
I plan to transfer the drives from my current system as a starting point, and reassess after giving it some use. That means
Either the above SSD or 450Gb 10k Raptor for OS (new drives)
300Gb 10k rpm Raptor (currently used for OS in old box)
150Gb 7k4 rpm Raptor (reserved for Photoshop Scratch in old box)
2 x 1Tb WD Blacks (data drives)
2 x 1Tb WD USB3 externals
I don't know how I would configure the drives in the new box, but have seen Harm's table and will try to follow his advice. It's a dreadful thing to admit, but I don't have a backup strategy, and the above drives are well over half full. Well over! And I am only just getting serious about video, (the rest is mainly CR2 files from my Canon 1Ds3 and 1D4)
I know it must be like banging your head against the wall, but should I avoid that SSD and go with the 450G Raptor? I have read a comment that the WD Blacks don't work well as Raid0. Is that BS or true?
I am about to give the go-ahead so need to confirm the spec.

Inspiron 9300 cd drive performance

well, i put arch linux on my laptop last week. its one with ide drives, not sata. dell never officially doc'd a difference between the two and put out very few with sata in them. i worked for them so i had the inside info on that, lol.
anyway, basically, since i've had it, i've always had issues with the cd/dvd drive performance, some bios issue and no option in the bios to force it to work properly, anyway, im not the only one who's had that problem
but since day one, with windows xp on it, never got the drive to read or write dvds past 1.2x, for cd's its roughly 10x and the drive is rated 8x dvd and 32 or 40 for cd's
anyway, even vista never got full speed. fedora 6/7 did though, and so did ubuntu, i think they were using an ata_piix driver or something, i had read about it when i was using fedora 4 but couldnt figure out how to recompile the kernel
basically, im having the same problem here with archlinux. wondering how i could get ata_piix working or if theres something newer to replace it

Hi
I have been having same problems importing CDs , After Googling and reading various forums learnt latest version of I tunes has a glitch . Lets hope they sort it out soon and release update , What I did after reading forums was to go into I tunes , go to tabs at top FILE , EDIT etc, select preferences in drop down menu , Then you have to untick option to automatically get track names .
Put CD into CD drive , when CD appears without track details go into ADVANCED drop down menu at top ask to get track names , once they have appeared you can select import CD and it works fine , well did for me , if you go to i Lounge forum there is lot of info on it and probably wriiten clearer than I have . Good luck

How to Reset the Sata Link Controller for Full Sata 3 speeds on an OCZ Agility 3

So I purchased a new OCZ Agility 3 drive, installed it into the main bay of my 2012 Macbook Pro, and the drive was running at half speed. I called OCZ and spoke to the guys about how to resolve this issue, they were very knowledgeable, but they had no ideas how to make thier Linux Live Tool work on the Mac, which gives us the ability to reset the controller. Here's what I did to get the full speeds out of my OCZ Agility 3.
- You will need a Windows computer, or the ability to create and install Windows on a Bootcamp partition on your Mac.
- Thumb Drive
- Lots of Patience
1. Open Disk Utility and create one partition on your thumb drive under MS-DOS Fat 32. Click the Options tab and select “Master Boot Record.”
2. Go to the OCZ forum and download the older Linux Live Tool version: OCZ_Tools_316-old.zip. From my experience, the newer version doesn’t work on the 2012 Macbook Pro.
3.Download the “Universal USB Installer” for Windows, and follow the steps to install the ISO to your Thumb Drive using the instructions located on the OCZ Forum. http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?99275-NEW!-Bootable-Linux -based-tools-for-OCZ-SSD-s&p=714047&viewfull=1#post714047
4. Once the ISO is successfully copied to the Thumb Drive, insert the USB stick into your Mac with the OCZ SSD installed in the Main Bay, Power On, and hold down the “Option” key. You should see a yellow hard disk icon that says “Windows,” select it and press enter.
5. Once the OCZ Tool loads up, click the “Green Arrows” to put the drive into Sata II mode. Shutdown the computer, power on, and check the System Profiler. The drive should be running at Sata II speeds.
6. Shutdown the computer and boot into the OCZ Tool, and click on the “Red Arrows.” This will reset the controller to its default mode of Sata III (Sata 6 Mode).
7. Check the speed of the drive using the disk speed test of your choice. The drive should now be running at full speed.
The biggest accomplishment here was actually getting the OCZ Linux Live Tool to load on a 2012 Macbook Pro. The newer version of the tool doesnt support the USB 3.0 drivers, so you loose the funtion of your trackpad and keyboard or bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
**Note: Black Magic Disk Speed Test Version 2.0 may give you lower numbers than expected due to the compression method in testing the drive. I would prefer using XBench or Disk Speed Test Version 1.0**
***Here's a link to a thread that explains how to properly install your OS onto the drive. If not done correctly, this can also cripple the speed of the drive.***
Drive Preparation
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3381208?start=0&tstart=0

I can almost see a big grin appearing in Bob's avatar...
Hopefully his reply has given you a clue already?
If not, some explanation:
Many settings in the standard "Media" panel (for both video and audio) don't apply for publications that need to go the Folio-way. This panel is mainly concerned with lovely Flash stuff, but apart from the Poster frame and the Markers, it is useless for Folio's.
A quick guide: create a video with the necessary codec (H.264 for video, MP# or AAC for audio) at the required pixel size (exact width/height). Simply Place the file in InDesign, but don't scale it (or recreate and place a properly sized new video afterwards). Choose what to do with the Poster frame (and maybe some Markers), but all other settings are done in the Overlay Creator.
Check Bob Bringhurst's Tutorials and his DPS Tips app for more info. But I guess you get the idea now.

Arch: Install to & run from External USB Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

I wanted to play with ArchLinux 2009.02, but replacing the existing Debian-Lenny on the laptop's HDD wasn't an option. So I experimented with installing Arch on an external USB Hard Disk Drive.
I have tried to make this "newbie-friendly", so I hope the more experienced will forgive the detail.
Materials:
Three year old Dell Inspiron 6000
CPU = 2.0 GHz Pentium
RAM = 2.0 GB
Internal HDD = 80 GB
Internal CD/DVD R/RW
External USB HDD = Freecom FHD-2 Pro 80 GB
Archlinux 2009.02 install CD
Steps to install:
1. I put the Archlinux install CD in the drive and connected the external 80 GB HDD in the USB port.
2. When the Dell laptop was booted, I pressed F2 to enter the BIOS setup. I edited the boot sequence to the following:
Internal CD/DVD
External USB device
Internal HDD
On the Dell, you can also press F12 to select the preferred boot device for that boot.
3. I started the laptop and the Archlinux installation menu came up and I proceeded with installation following the "Official Arch Linux Install Guide" and the "Beginners Guide".
4. Used km to change to UK keyboard layout and then began the installer script (/arch/setup). I was installing from the core CD so I skipped the network steps.
5. HDD preparation.
This was fairly straightforward with two cautions:
(a) Make very sure that the external HDD (sdb) is selected for the operations.
(b) Remember to set the Bootable Flag for the first (/) partition on the HDD.
I chose 20 GB for /, 2 GB for swap and the remainder for /home.
6. The package selection and installation was fairly straightforward.
7. Configuration of System
This was section was straightforward with one warning:
USB had to be added to the HOOKS in the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file!
I found this to be essential for my external USB HDD to function as a bootable device. Otherwise I got the same sorts of errors relating to unrecognisable file system types that other people have reported in the forum.
The relevant line from the end of the edited /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file is below:
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata usb filesystems"
8. Installation of GRUB was the other point where caution and/or correction was necessary.
When it asked where GRUB should be installed, I had to select sdb (my external USB HDD) and not any of the particular partitions on sdb. If the root partition sdb1 was selected then the laptop won't boot from the external USB HDD.
The GRUB /boot/grub/menu.lst as written by the installation routine specifies hd(1,0) which doesn't work when you try to reboot from the external USB HDD. When you boot Arch from the external USB HDD, as far as Arch is concerned - at that point in time - the external USB HDD is the first drive in the system. To fix this:
(a) When the Arch boot menu comes up, press e to edit the grub entries.
(b) Change the first line to hd(0,0)
(c) To the end of the kernel line add rootdelay=8
(d) Press b to boot the system with these temporary corrections.
(e) Once your Arch system has booted, edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst to make the above changes permanent.
The relevant portion of my /boot/grub/menu.lst looks like the following:
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/... ro rootdelay=8
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/... ro rootdelay=8
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img
9. The laptop happily and consistently boots Arch Linux from the external USB HDD when it's plugged in before startup/booting.
Running Arch from the external USB HDD seems as quick as running Debian from the internal HDD.
So if there is a performance penalty associated with using an external USB HDD, my wife and I haven't noticed.
In summary, the three essential points to address during installation to an external USB HDD are:
Remember to set the bootable flag for the first partition.
Add USB to the HOOKS for /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file.
Correct the /etc/grub/menu.lst file.
I hope this is helpful.
Ted

Hi Rookie,
As you say, it is worth remembering the rootfstype= option for the kernel line just in case someone still has problems with GRUB after making all the other changes.
I was working with the most recent Arch 2009.2 release.
I only got messages about unrecognisable file system type when I tried booting with the "stock" or "as-installed" GRUB (before I edited /boot/grub/menu.lst). After editing /boot/grub/menu.lst to identify the drive correctly and add rootdelay, GRUB was able to do the rest and everything worked OK without any error messages.
Best wishes,
Ted

Testing Hard Drive Performance

Is there a program designed for testing memory performance on different volumes of multiple hard drives so you can compare different partition schemes, or iIf not, a real life process one could time and thus derive a comparison? For example, first test file X on volume A, then on B, then on C, and compare the times?
Thanks

*AJA KONA System Test Version 6.0.1*
A Macintosh utility for measuring system performance with AJA KONA Video Capture cards.
The application includes disk drive speed tests and Macintosh video data copy (DMA) speeds.
The disk speed tests differ from standard disk I/O performance applications in that they specifically test the system under conditions typically encountered with video capture, playback and editing.
Note: most of the disk performance tests are generic and don't require an AJA KONA Video Capture card. The DMA performance tests do require a KONA card and AJA KONA Driver software to operate. The DMA tests are not compatible with AJA Io products.
*AJA Data Rate Calculator Application Version 6.0.1*
This OS X software application calculates data rates and storage requirements for a given video size, format, and frame rate. It's great for both KONA and Io users as a resource for configuring systems and determining storage requirements.
http://www.aja.com/html/supportkona3swd.html
- I think this is more like what you, or someone doing video editing, wants to use, and even test different drive and raid configurations.

Disk Drive Irregularity

The disk drive on my iMac has been out of wack for about a year and a half now, it hasn't been more than a mild inconvenience as i had an external one but i've got to the point where i'm wandering why it isn't.
It can just about read CDs tho if i'm importing one with it each track has to be dragged one by one or it misses out a bunch, usually at the start of the CD, during witch it makes an abysmal racket most notably when it speeds up or slows down. It can't even recognize DVDs witch was the first problem for a while before the tetchyness with the CDs started.
We had a problem similar with an old Performa 5200 and it turned out something had to be tightened witch was easy enough, does it sound like anything along those lines or would itneed replacing to get any use out of it?
Thanks for reading

replace the drive

Hard disk drive upgrade

hi there
newbie mac user - got my macbook in late dec 07 and so far so good; have not yet experienced any problems i have read in the macbook discussion forum. when i bought the macbook, i opted for the 160GB HDD, which is fine for my current use. anyhow, i have some PC software that is only available on PC and won't run with Codeweaver's Crossover (that software require's microsoft's .net framework, which is not compatible with Crossover). So I'm now thinking of upgrading to a 250GB hard disk drive and have Windows XP installed.
so my questions are:
1. Any notebook SATA HDD will do? the one currently installed is a Fujitsu, which works fine but i can't find any place that sells it. so i'm thinking of Western Digital.
2. Setting up the new HDD: my thoughts are to firstly do a time machine backup of the entire current HDD onto a removable HDD. then remove the old HDD and replace with the new HDD. install OS X then run time machine to restore on to the new HDD, which i hope will then put the new HDD into the same state as the old HDD. will that work? my thinking is that it will save me time having to reinstall various apps.
On an unrelated matter, my biggest gripe with Win XP (and all preceding versions of Windows) is that the OS gets progressively slower and slower during start up and shut down over time (no speed problems once up and running). the normal solution is to do a clean install. does OS X suffer the same problem? my macbook is still quite new so everything is running super fast.
cheers.
boon

Have you tried Parallels or VMware Fusion. They work very good running windows.
You need a 2.5 inch SATA drive that meets these dimensions.
Physical Dimensions
English
Height: 0.374 ±0.008 inch
Length: 3.94 ±0.010 inch
Width: 2.75 ±0.010 inch
Weight: 0.26 Pounds (±0.10 lb)
Metric
Height: 9.5 ±0.20 mm
Length: 100.2 ±0.25 mm
Width: 69.85 ±0.25 mm
Weight: 0.117 kg (± 0.082 kg)
I replaced my 80 GB drive with a Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive - OEM. It is great.
I took my old drive out and use one of these, OWC Hard Drive Enclosures, to install it in. Then I used that to help recover my system to my new drive.
These are good sources for drives.
OWC MacBook Ram and Hard drives
NewEgg.com LapTop Hard Drives

SATA negotiated speed reduce disk drive performance

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