As the list seems to have less traffic I've got a poser: My work PC is very slow with disk access. Any time I start copying large files, or unzipping anything etc. it will grind to a halt.
It seems to be a faulty drive or disk cache etc. but I don't want to have to install Windows to prove it. Can anyone recommend any disk benchmarks or any settings I can check to ensure DMA is turned on for the HDD? Otherwise I will have to install Windows to prove the fault. If the fault isn't present in Windows it will show a problem with Ubuntu. The drive is SATA, the PC is about 18 months old. When trying to set DMA I get: r...@darrenm-desktop:~# hdparm -d /dev/sda /dev/sda: HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device Apparently this is because DMA is always on for SATA disks so isn't really relevant anymore? The slowdown seems to be CPU related which leads me to think it's DMA related. The odd thing is the timings seem to be OK? r...@darrenm-desktop:~# hdparm -t /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing buffered disk reads: 238 MB in 3.02 seconds = 78.79 MB/sec r...@darrenm-desktop:~# hdparm -T /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing cached reads: 2248 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1123.65 MB/sec Any advice on the matter will be gratefully received. (more info below) Thanks. Darren Disk controller: 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP]) Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8179 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18 I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8] I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1] I/O ports at 0170 [size=8] I/O ports at 0374 [size=1] I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16] Kernel driver in use: ata_piix 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO]) Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 2601 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 I/O ports at b800 [size=8] I/O ports at b400 [size=4] I/O ports at b000 [size=8] I/O ports at a800 [size=4] I/O ports at a400 [size=16] Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2 Kernel driver in use: ata_piix HDD: /dev/sda: ATA device, with non-removable media Model Number: WDC WD1600AAJS-00WAA0 Serial Number: WD-WMAS20360351 Firmware Revision: 58.01D58 Transport: Serial, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5 Standards: Supported: 8 7 6 5 Likely used: 8 Configuration: Logical max current cylinders 16383 16383 heads 16 16 sectors/track 63 63 -- CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064 LBA user addressable sectors: 268435455 LBA48 user addressable sectors: 312581808 device size with M = 1024*1024: 152627 MBytes device size with M = 1000*1000: 160041 MBytes (160 GB) Capabilities: LBA, IORDY(can be disabled) Queue depth: 32 Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16 Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254 DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 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 Power-Up In Standby feature set * SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up SET_MAX security extension Automatic Acoustic Management feature set * 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 * 64-bit World wide name * Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE * SATA-I signaling speed (1.5Gb/s) * SATA-II signaling speed (3.0Gb/s) * Native Command Queueing (NCQ) * Host-initiated interface power management * Phy event counters DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization * Software settings preservation * SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set * SCT Long Sector Access (AC1) * SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2) * SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3) * SCT Features Control (AC4) * SCT Data Tables (AC5) unknown 206[12] (vendor specific) unknown 206[13] (vendor specific) Security: Master password revision code = 65534 supported not enabled not locked frozen not expired: security count supported: enhanced erase 40min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 40min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT. Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 50014ee055d58541 NAA : 5 IEEE OUI : 14ee Unique ID : 055d58541 Checksum: correct -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/