Very low HD Performance

Question

Hi,
Using arch a few days ago (Recent Instalation) I noticed that it was very slow, programs were taking quite some time to open, then I tested my HD performance with hdparm:
Cached Read is 680MB/s in Arch.
After this, I installed CentOS 5.0 and tested hdparm again:
Cached Read is 1700MB/s in CentOS.
Then I Tested hdparm in Ubuntu 7.04 and in Fedora 7 and:
Cached Read is ~ 622MB/s in both.
My problem is that I want Arch (Of course) with that HD performance found in CentOS.
I want some directions from you guys, I have already searched and tested this for a few days, but can´t make it work.
I can get needed data from bot, Centos or Arch.
Thank you!!
Last edited by William Koch (2007-09-19 16:52:03)

Answer 1

cactus wrote:
you likely have an ide hard drive, right?
You probably need to tune the hdparm settings a bit.
What is the output of hdparm -I /dev/sda 
Where sda is your drive.
My HD is a Serial ATA 5400RPM (My computer is a Notebook Toshiba Satellite A135-S2386)
hdparm -I /dev/sda in ArchLinux:
# hdparm -I /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: TOSHIBA MK8037GSX
Serial Number: 37NHF8VJS
Firmware Revision: DL230M
Standards:
Supported: 7 6 5 4
Likely used: 7
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 16383 16383
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064
LBA user addressable sectors: 156301488
LBA48 user addressable sectors: 156301488
device size with M = 1024*1024: 76319 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 80026 MBytes (80 GB)
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
Queue depth: 32
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x0080)
DMA: sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
* SMART feature set
Security Mode feature set
* Power Management feature set
* Write cache
* Look-ahead
* Host Protected Area feature set
* WRITE_BUFFER command
* READ_BUFFER command
* NOP cmd
* DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
* Advanced Power Management feature set
* SET_MAX security extension
* 48-bit Address feature set
* Device Configuration Overlay feature set
* Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
* FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
* SMART error logging
* SMART self-test
* General Purpose Logging feature set
* WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
* IDLE_IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD
* SATA-I signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
* Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
* Host-initiated interface power management
* Phy event counters
DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
Device-initiated interface power management
* Software settings preservation
* SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
Security:
Master password revision code = 65534
supported
not enabled
not locked
frozen
not expired: security count
not supported: enhanced erase
46min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Checksum: correct
hdparm -I /dev/sda in CentOS:
# hdparm -I /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: TOSHIBA MK8037GSX
Serial Number: 37NHF8VJS
Firmware Revision: DL230M
Standards:
Supported: 7 6 5 4
Likely used: 7
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 16383 16383
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064
LBA user addressable sectors: 156301488
LBA48 user addressable sectors: 156301488
device size with M = 1024*1024: 76319 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 80026 MBytes (80 GB)
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
Queue depth: 32
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16
Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x0080)
DMA: sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
* SMART feature set
Security Mode feature set
* Power Management feature set
* Write cache
* Look-ahead
* Host Protected Area feature set
* WRITE_BUFFER command
* READ_BUFFER command
* NOP cmd
* DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
* Advanced Power Management feature set
* SET_MAX security extension
* 48-bit Address feature set
* Device Configuration Overlay feature set
* Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
* FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
* SMART error logging
* SMART self-test
* General Purpose Logging feature set
* WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
* IDLE_IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD
* SATA-I signaling speed ( 1.5Gb/s)
* Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
* Host-initiated interface power management
* Phy event counters
DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
Device-initiated interface power management
* Software settings preservation
Security:
Master password revision code = 65534
supported
not enabled
not locked
frozen
not expired: security count
not supported: enhanced erase
46min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Checksum: correct
hdparm -tT /dev/sda in ArchLinux:
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 680 MB in 2.00 seconds = 340.13 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 130 MB in 3.04 seconds = 42.74 MB/sec
hdparm -tT /dev/sda in CentOS:
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 1632 MB in 2.00 seconds = 816.36 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 130 MB in 3.03 seconds = 42.85 MB/sec
Could it be some new driver, or something that has changed recently, CentOS is RHEL based, it uses older programs/drivers/kernel.
Thank you!
Last edited by William Koch (2007-09-19 21:09:01)