Hello misc, it's about some time now that I use an external USB drive as my primary boot drive with OpenBSD, but I'm not satisfied with the performances as I couldn't get over 10-12MB/s.
I don't think this to be a problem with the hardware as I have the same issue with different pc/drives as well as better performance with different OS. I searched through the man pages as well as the mail archives and the internet, but couldn't find any clues explaining me if I'm doing something wrong. Any ideas? Thank you. Ciao, D. ps. Here are the two systems' dmesgs, updated a few hours before build time. # First system: HP Compaq nw9440 # OpenBSD 4.6-current (GENERIC.MP) #13: Tue Jan 12 21:32:50 CET 2010 r...@stag.home:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC.MP cpu0: Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2600 @ 2.16GHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class) 2.17 GHz cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,VMX,EST,TM2,xTPR real mem = 3623251968 (3455MB) avail mem = 3525091328 (3361MB) mainbus0 at root bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+ BIOS, date 03/05/08, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf0000, SMBIOS rev. 2.4 @ 0xf3b77 (23 entries) bios0: vendor Hewlett-Packard version "68YAF Ver. F.1C" date 03/05/2008 bios0: Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq nw9440 (EY314EA#ABZ) acpi0 at bios0: rev 2 acpi0: tables DSDT FACP SLIC HPET APIC MCFG TCPA SSDT SSDT SSDT SSDT SSDT acpi0: wakeup devices C09A(S5) C0F9(S3) C0FA(S3) C0FB(S3) C0FC(S3) C103(S0) C22D(S0) C113(S5) C238(S5) C119(S5) C239(S5) acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 24 bits acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318179 Hz acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor) cpu0: apic clock running at 166MHz cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 1 (application processor) cpu1: Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2600 @ 2.16GHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class) 2.17 GHz cpu1: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,VMX,EST,TM2,xTPR ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 1 pa 0xfec00000, version 20, 24 pins ioapic0: misconfigured as apic 0, remapped to apid 1 acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 1 (C085) acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus 2 (C09A) acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus 8 (C103) acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus 16 (C113) acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus 32 (C119) acpiprt5 at acpi0: bus 0 (C003) acpiec0 at acpi0 acpicpu0 at acpi0: C2, C1, PSS acpicpu1 at acpi0: C2, C1, PSS acpipwrres0 at acpi0: C1F8 acpipwrres1 at acpi0: C207 acpipwrres2 at acpi0: C224 acpipwrres3 at acpi0: C22C acpipwrres4 at acpi0: C334 acpipwrres5 at acpi0: C335 acpipwrres6 at acpi0: C336 acpipwrres7 at acpi0: C337 acpipwrres8 at acpi0: C338 acpipwrres9 at acpi0: C339 acpipwrres10 at acpi0: C33A acpipwrres11 at acpi0: C33B acpipwrres12 at acpi0: C33C acpipwrres13 at acpi0: C33D acpipwrres14 at acpi0: C33E acpitz0 at acpi0: critical temperature 256 degC acpitz1 at acpi0: critical temperature 102 degC acpitz2 at acpi0: critical temperature 110 degC acpitz3 at acpi0: critical temperature 105 degC acpitz4 at acpi0: critical temperature 102 degC acpitz5 at acpi0: critical temperature 110 degC acpibat0 at acpi0: C1C5 model "Primary" serial 06762 2006/04/24 type LIon oem "Hewlett-Packard" acpibat1 at acpi0: C1C4 not present acpiac0 at acpi0: AC unit online acpibtn0 at acpi0: C24D acpibtn1 at acpi0: C245 acpivideo0 at acpi0: C130 acpivout0 at acpivideo0: C14B acpivout1 at acpivideo0: C14C acpivout2 at acpivideo0: C14F acpivout3 at acpivideo0: C150 bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0xdc00 0xd0000/0x1000 0xd1000/0x1800 cpu0: Enhanced SpeedStep 2162 MHz: speeds: 2167, 1667, 1333, 1000 MHz pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios) pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82945GM Host" rev 0x03 ppb0 at pci0 dev 1 function 0 "Intel 82945GM PCIE" rev 0x03 pci1 at ppb0 bus 1 vga1 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 vendor "NVIDIA", unknown product 0x029b rev 0xa1 wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation) wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation) azalia0 at pci0 dev 27 function 0 "Intel 82801GB HD Audio" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 16 (irq 10) azalia0: codecs: Analog Devices AD1981HD, Conexant/0x2bfa, using Analog Devices AD1981HD audio0 at azalia0 ppb1 at pci0 dev 28 function 0 "Intel 82801GB PCIE" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 16 (irq 10) pci2 at ppb1 bus 8 bge0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM5753M" rev 0x21, BCM5750 C1 (0x4201): apic 1 int 16 (irq 10), address 00:16:d4:0c:fc:f0 brgphy0 at bge0 phy 1: BCM5750 10/100/1000baseT PHY, rev. 0 ppb2 at pci0 dev 28 function 1 "Intel 82801GB PCIE" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10) pci3 at ppb2 bus 16 wpi0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG" rev 0x02: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10), MoW2, address 00:13:02:51:af:9d ppb3 at pci0 dev 28 function 3 "Intel 82801GB PCIE" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 19 (irq 5) pci4 at ppb3 bus 32 uhci0 at pci0 dev 29 function 0 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 20 (irq 10) uhci1 at pci0 dev 29 function 1 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 22 (irq 11) uhci2 at pci0 dev 29 function 2 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 18 (irq 11) uhci3 at pci0 dev 29 function 3 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 19 (irq 5) ehci0 at pci0 dev 29 function 7 "Intel 82801GB USB" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 20 (irq 10) usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0 uhub0 at usb0 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1 ppb4 at pci0 dev 30 function 0 "Intel 82801BAM Hub-to-PCI" rev 0xe1 pci5 at ppb4 bus 2 cbb0 at pci5 dev 6 function 0 "TI PCIXX12 CardBus" rev 0x00: apic 1 int 18 (irq 11) "TI PCIXX12 FireWire" rev 0x00 at pci5 dev 6 function 1 not configured "TI PCIXX12 Multimedia Card Reader" rev 0x00 at pci5 dev 6 function 2 not configured sdhc0 at pci5 dev 6 function 3 "TI PCIXX12 Secure Data" rev 0x00: apic 1 int 22 (irq 11) sdmmc0 at sdhc0 "TI PCIXX12 Smart Card" rev 0x00 at pci5 dev 6 function 4 not configured cardslot0 at cbb0 slot 0 flags 0 cardbus0 at cardslot0: bus 3 device 0 cacheline 0x10, lattimer 0x20 pcmcia0 at cardslot0 ichpcib0 at pci0 dev 31 function 0 "Intel 82801GBM LPC" rev 0x01: PM disabled pciide0 at pci0 dev 31 function 1 "Intel 82801GB IDE" rev 0x01: DMA, channel 0 configured to compatibility, channel 1 configured to compatibility atapiscsi0 at pciide0 channel 0 drive 0 scsibus0 at atapiscsi0: 2 targets cd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: <HL-DT-ST, DVDRAM GMA-4082N, HQ04> ATAPI 5/cdrom removable cd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2 pciide0: channel 1 ignored (disabled) pciide1 at pci0 dev 31 function 2 "Intel 82801GBM AHCI" rev 0x01: DMA, channel 0 wired to native-PCI, channel 1 wired to native-PCI pciide1: using apic 1 int 21 (irq 10) for native-PCI interrupt wd0 at pciide1 channel 0 drive 0: <TOSHIBA MK3252GSX> wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA48, 305245MB, 625142448 sectors wd0(pciide1:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 5 usb1 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0 uhub1 at usb1 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb2 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0 uhub2 at usb2 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb3 at uhci2: USB revision 1.0 uhub3 at usb3 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb4 at uhci3: USB revision 1.0 uhub4 at usb4 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 isa0 at ichpcib0 isadma0 at isa0 pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5 pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot) pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0 pmsi0 at pckbc0 (aux slot) pckbc0: using irq 12 for aux slot wsmouse0 at pmsi0 mux 0 pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61 midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker> spkr0 at pcppi0 npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: reported by CPUID; using exception 16 mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support umass0 at uhub0 port 5 configuration 1 interface 0 "LaCie LaCie Hard Drive USB" rev 2.00/0.01 addr 2 umass0: using SCSI over Bulk-Only scsibus1 at umass0: 2 targets, initiator 0 sd0 at scsibus1 targ 1 lun 0: <ST950032, 5AS, > SCSI2 0/direct fixed sd0: 476940MB, 512 bytes/sec, 976773168 sec total ubt0 at uhub1 port 1 "Broadcom Corp HP Integrated Module" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 2 ugen0 at uhub1 port 2 "AuthenTec Fingerprint Sensor" rev 1.10/6.21 addr 3 vscsi0 at root scsibus2 at vscsi0: 256 targets softraid0 at root root on sd0a swap on sd0b dump on sd0b # Second system: HP Compaq 6910p # OpenBSD 4.6-current (GENERIC.MP) #13: Tue Jan 12 21:32:50 CET 2010 r...@stag.home:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC.MP cpu0: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class) 2 GHz cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,DS-CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,CX16,xTPR real mem = 2104782848 (2007MB) avail mem = 2030678016 (1936MB) mainbus0 at root bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+ BIOS, date 11/04/08, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf0000, SMBIOS rev. 2.4 @ 0xf3253 (27 entries) bios0: vendor Hewlett-Packard version "68MCU Ver. F.17" date 11/04/2008 bios0: Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq 6910p (RH244AV) acpi0 at bios0: rev 2 acpi0: tables DSDT FACP SLIC HPET APIC MCFG TCPA ASF! SSDT SSDT SSDT SSDT SSDT acpi0: wakeup devices C0B0(S5) C108(S3) C10F(S3) C110(S3) C111(S3) C119(S3) C11A(S3) C11B(S3) C131(S5) C2A7(S5) C132(S5) C2A8(S5) C134(S5) C2A8(S5) C137(S5) C23D(S5) acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 24 bits acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318179 Hz acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor) cpu0: apic clock running at 199MHz cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 1 (application processor) cpu1: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz ("GenuineIntel" 686-class) 2 GHz cpu1: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,SBF,SSE3,MWAIT,DS-CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,CX16,xTPR ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 1 pa 0xfec00000, version 20, 24 pins ioapic0: misconfigured as apic 0, remapped to apid 1 acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 2 (C0B0) acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus 8 (C11D) acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus 16 (C131) acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus 40 (C134) acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus 0 (C003) acpiec0 at acpi0 acpicpu0 at acpi0: C2, C1, PSS acpicpu1 at acpi0: C2, C1, PSS acpipwrres0 at acpi0: C272 acpipwrres1 at acpi0: C27A acpipwrres2 at acpi0: C281 acpipwrres3 at acpi0: C29D acpipwrres4 at acpi0: C1C5 acpipwrres5 at acpi0: C3B9 acpipwrres6 at acpi0: C3BA acpipwrres7 at acpi0: C3BB acpipwrres8 at acpi0: C3BC acpipwrres9 at acpi0: C3BD acpitz0 at acpi0: critical temperature 105 degC acpitz1 at acpi0: critical temperature 105 degC acpitz2 at acpi0: critical temperature 110 degC acpitz3 at acpi0: critical temperature 256 degC acpitz4 at acpi0: critical temperature 105 degC acpibat0 at acpi0: C23B not present acpibat1 at acpi0: C23A not present acpiac0 at acpi0: AC unit online acpibtn0 at acpi0: C2BB acpibtn1 at acpi0: C153 acpivideo0 at acpi0: C098 acpivout0 at acpivideo0: C1AD acpivout1 at acpivideo0: C1B2 acpivout2 at acpivideo0: C1B3 acpivout3 at acpivideo0: C1B4 bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0xee00! 0xd0000/0x1000 0xd1000/0x1000 cpu0: Enhanced SpeedStep 1996 MHz: speeds: 2001, 2000, 1600, 1200, 800 MHz pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios) pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel GM965 Host" rev 0x0c vga1 at pci0 dev 2 function 0 "Intel GM965 Video" rev 0x0c wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation) wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation) intagp0 at vga1 agp0 at intagp0: aperture at 0xd0000000, size 0x10000000 inteldrm0 at vga1: apic 1 int 16 (irq 10) drm0 at inteldrm0 "Intel GM965 Video" rev 0x0c at pci0 dev 2 function 1 not configured vendor "Intel", unknown product 0x2a04 (class communications subclass miscellaneous, rev 0x0c) at pci0 dev 3 function 0 not configured pciide0 at pci0 dev 3 function 2 "Intel GM965 PT IDER" rev 0x0c: DMA (unsupported), channel 0 wired to native-PCI, channel 1 wired to native-PCI pciide0: using apic 1 int 18 (irq 11) for native-PCI interrupt pciide0: channel 0 ignored (not responding; disabled or no drives?) pciide0: channel 1 ignored (not responding; disabled or no drives?) "Intel GM965 KT" rev 0x0c at pci0 dev 3 function 3 not configured em0 at pci0 dev 25 function 0 "Intel ICH8 IGP M AMT" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 22 (irq 11), address 00:23:5a:a2:9f:86 uhci0 at pci0 dev 26 function 0 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 16 (irq 10) uhci1 at pci0 dev 26 function 1 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10) ehci0 at pci0 dev 26 function 7 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 18 (irq 11) usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0 uhub0 at usb0 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1 azalia0 at pci0 dev 27 function 0 "Intel 82801H HD Audio" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10) azalia0: codecs: Analog Devices AD1981HD, Conexant/0x2c06, using Analog Devices AD1981HD audio0 at azalia0 ppb0 at pci0 dev 28 function 0 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03 pci1 at ppb0 bus 8 ppb1 at pci0 dev 28 function 1 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03 pci2 at ppb1 bus 16 iwn0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965" rev 0x61: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10), MIMO 2T3R, MoW2, address 00:1d:e0:91:9f:fb ppb2 at pci0 dev 28 function 4 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 16 (irq 10) pci3 at ppb2 bus 40 uhci2 at pci0 dev 29 function 0 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 20 (irq 10) uhci3 at pci0 dev 29 function 1 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 22 (irq 11) uhci4 at pci0 dev 29 function 2 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 18 (irq 11) ehci1 at pci0 dev 29 function 7 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 1 int 20 (irq 10) usb1 at ehci1: USB revision 2.0 uhub1 at usb1 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1 ppb3 at pci0 dev 30 function 0 "Intel 82801BAM Hub-to-PCI" rev 0xf3 pci4 at ppb3 bus 2 cbb0 at pci4 dev 6 function 0 "Ricoh 5C476 CardBus" rev 0xb9: apic 1 int 18 (irq 11) cbb1 at pci4 dev 6 function 1 "Ricoh 5C476 CardBus" rev 0xb9: apic 1 int 19 (irq 5) "Ricoh 5C832 Firewire" rev 0x03 at pci4 dev 6 function 2 not configured sdhc0 at pci4 dev 6 function 3 "Ricoh 5C822 SD/MMC" rev 0x20: apic 1 int 19 (irq 5) sdmmc0 at sdhc0 "Ricoh 5C843 MMC" rev 0x10 at pci4 dev 6 function 4 not configured cardslot0 at cbb0 slot 0 flags 0 cardbus0 at cardslot0: bus 3 device 0 cacheline 0x0, lattimer 0x20 pcmcia0 at cardslot0 cardslot1 at cbb1 slot 1 flags 0 cardbus1 at cardslot1: bus 4 device 0 cacheline 0x0, lattimer 0x20 pcmcia1 at cardslot1 pcib0 at pci0 dev 31 function 0 "Intel 82801HEM LPC" rev 0x03 pciide1 at pci0 dev 31 function 1 "Intel 82801HBM IDE" rev 0x03: DMA, channel 0 configured to compatibility, channel 1 configured to compatibility atapiscsi0 at pciide1 channel 0 drive 0 scsibus0 at atapiscsi0: 2 targets cd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: <MATSHITA, DVD-RAM UJ-842S, 1.01> ATAPI 5/cdrom removable cd0(pciide1:0:0): using PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2 pciide1: channel 1 ignored (disabled) pciide2 at pci0 dev 31 function 2 "Intel 82801HBM AHCI" rev 0x03: DMA, channel 0 wired to native-PCI, channel 1 wired to native-PCI pciide2: using apic 1 int 21 (irq 5) for native-PCI interrupt wd0 at pciide2 channel 0 drive 0: <Hitachi HTS542580K9SA00> wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA48, 76319MB, 156301488 sectors wd0(pciide2:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 5 usb2 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0 uhub2 at usb2 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb3 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0 uhub3 at usb3 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb4 at uhci2: USB revision 1.0 uhub4 at usb4 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb5 at uhci3: USB revision 1.0 uhub5 at usb5 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 usb6 at uhci4: USB revision 1.0 uhub6 at usb6 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1 isa0 at pcib0 isadma0 at isa0 com2 at isa0 port 0x3e8/8 irq 5: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5 pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot) pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0 pmsi0 at pckbc0 (aux slot) pckbc0: using irq 12 for aux slot wsmouse0 at pmsi0 mux 0 pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61 midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker> spkr0 at pcppi0 lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378/4 irq 7 npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: reported by CPUID; using exception 16 mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support "RICOH, Bay8Controller" (manufacturer 0x0, product 0x0) at pcmcia1 function 0 not configured umass0 at uhub1 port 5 configuration 1 interface 0 "LaCie LaCie Hard Drive USB" rev 2.00/0.01 addr 2 umass0: using SCSI over Bulk-Only scsibus1 at umass0: 2 targets, initiator 0 sd0 at scsibus1 targ 1 lun 0: <ST950032, 5AS, > SCSI2 0/direct fixed sd0: 476940MB, 512 bytes/sec, 976773168 sec total ugen0 at uhub4 port 2 "AuthenTec Fingerprint Sensor" rev 1.10/6.23 addr 2 ubt0 at uhub2 port 1 "Broadcom Corp HP Integrated Module" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 2 vscsi0 at root scsibus2 at vscsi0: 256 targets softraid0 at root root on sd0a swap on sd0b dump on sd0b