Improving disk performance

[keith_leitch]

Windows' copy function is rather slow, but there is a free utility you can install called TeraCopy. It "takes over" whenever you use the copy function in windows, and from my experience it is considerably faster, maybe because it is using double buffering.

Thanks. I will install this. However, my problem went well beyond slow copies. I've just tried to watch something that recorded during the slow access period, and it was hideous; dropouts and missing data all over the place. Everything seems fine now that I've applied the script; tests that I've run using copy (the regular one) have yielded results anywhere between 32 and 97 MB/s. (Seems as though my drives perform very differently!)

I will report back tomorrow after I restore the 350GB backup to the reformatted partition.

[Reddwarf]

Hello Friends.
As my experience one day HDD was absolutely choked. The problem completely vanished when I replaced my old SATA drive with a striped RAID array. The boost in performance was just unbelievable. Now I have two raid arrays, one for windows, programs and archive and one for recordings.
And yes, It's a very good idea to keep windows and programs on it's own partition and also to allocable a fixed size pagefile/swapfile with sufficient size.If you can, place the swap file at the beginning of the disk (physical) because the drive reads and writes much faster on the innermost tracks

Exactly what my experiences are

[stustunz]

move one file from one drive to the next one then back and so on for each drive
see if it takes the same time to move between each drive (say a 2 gig movie or so )

also do you have the latest system board drivers loaded

[keith_leitch]

move one file from one drive to the next one then back and so on for each drive

I have done some of this, but by copying (not moving). Involving one particular drive cuts the transfer speeds nearly in half. (Unfortunately, it is the drive I chose for the Page File. I guess I will have to move that to the system drive, in the second partition rather than the first).

also do you have the latest system board drivers loaded

Possibly not. I assume you mean the replacements for the drivers on the motherboard's CD-ROM...pretty sure I just used the CD. I will investigate updating these.

[keith_leitch]

I replaced my old SATA drive with a striped RAID array. The boost in performance was just unbelievable.

Appreciated, but it still doesn't explain 10MB/s one minute and 92MB/s the next, both times without a RAID array. I still suspect that the channels had been reset to PIO without my knowledge. I will try to find the URL of that discussion and post it here, but in the meantime I strongly recommend that anyone experiencing suspicious slowdowns run that VBScript and reboot.

I am now watching to see whether the problem recurs, which could indicate a "bad drive".

[keith_leitch]

Here is the source of the VBScript, and the explanation of how this can happen, sometimes invisibly:

http://winhlp.com/node/10

[stustunz]

normally drivers on cd are out dated
first thing you should always do is go to website of motherboard and get all the latest new drivers otherwise you wont be getting the most
this could get you more increase in performance than all the other crap you have been fiddling with

[keith_leitch]

Windows' copy function is rather slow, but there is a free utility you can install called TeraCopy. It "takes over" whenever you use the copy function in windows, and from my experience it is considerably faster, maybe because it is using double buffering.

A curious result after installing this program. I ran identical tests before and after the install (both after a reboot, same 185 gb folder from same drive to same drive, both after resetting UDMA, etc.). Windows copy significantly outperformed Teracopy: 1 hour 17 minutes in the first case, 1 hour 53 minutes in the second. I do like the pausing and skipping features, but since Teracopy takes over the shell, I will be uninstalling it in the hopes that I regain the speed. For those looking to speed up large file copies, I don't recommend this software.

[stustunz]

there is something seriously wrong with your pc

i can move 2gig in 7 minutes to a different drive
if just moving the folder on the same drive then its 4minutes

[Reddwarf]

there is something seriously wrong with your pc

i can move 2gig in 7 minutes to a different drive
if just moving the folder on the same drive then its 4minutes

Agreed!! Copying a large file at my testrig easy obtaing 30-40 Mb/s, and that is with the computer working with other stuff in the background.

Keith, how did all your trouble actually start? Could there be something seriously wrong with the disk-controller on your motherboard? Some random on/off failure?