Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

[Shocker]

Okay, tell me if this is just my SATA controller, but seriously???

Transfer rate:
Avg.: 3.27MB/s
O.D.: 3.31MB/s
I.D.: 3.21MB/s



Access time:
18.9ms (-4.2ms for latency = 14.7ms)

How on EARTH can a single-platter 80GB 7200RPM drive be THIS slow???

Compared with ST380011A:

Transfer rate:
Avg.: 43.8MB/s
O.D.: 57.3MB/s
I.D.: 27.8MB/s

Access time:
14.9ms (-4.2ms = 10.7ms)

The Western Digital drive is at least quiet and reliable, but then so is the Seagate.

[Wester547]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

My guess is that the drive has fallen into PIO mode (which has a limit of 3.4MB/s) instead of DMA, by way of either a damaged drive interface, a damaged cable, something amiss in your OS, or something mechanically wrong otherwise with the WD HDD. I wouldn't mind PIO mode much if it wasn't such a CPU hog (at least, on single core machines, for those still using them), since PIO mode makes high CPU usage a requisite by needing the CPU for every byte sent to the hard disk.

Personally, I have found (older, 2001-2006, before Seagate and Maxtor's 'merger') Seagates (the Barracudas I've had) far and away the most "reliable" (mechanical) hard disks I've ever used, period, bar none. Possibly even the most "reliable" hard drives I've used. No other drive has so affluently given me as much longevity, speed, and silence, though I must admit I've had good experiences with Hitachi, Samsung (I know, Seagate "merged" with them), IBM (barring their Deathstar fiasco, and I know they became a part of Hitachi, but I mean their drives beforehand), and Western Digital's newer hard drives (especially the Caviar Black drives). I would think any drive (that isn't defective) should last a good while should you treat it well.

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

It's a SATA drive, by the way.

The cable doesn't appear to be the problem, as there's only one CRC error reported by S.M.A.R.T.

AHH!!!!! You were right about PIO mode. I assume it would be PIO 0, as that would account for the ≈3.33MB/s transfer rates. I just started KillDisk to see if there was a further problem and only now did I realise that it would have been a waste of time .

Still, I don't know why the seeks are so slow .

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Ah, better now.

Avg.: 49.5MB/s
O.D.: 59.6MB/s
I.D.: 33.1MB/s

Only got 0.2ms better access, though.

[Wester547]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Unless automatic acoustic management is supported and enabled (which would reduce power consumption, seek noise, and therein augment seek time), or unless the drive is just slow in that regard, I'm not sure why the random access time would be low.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Seems right, I have the same crappy harddrive in a system here...

[momaka]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

I had a 40 GB WD IDE drive of the same model go into PIO mode after getting a bunch of bad sectors. The quick Error Scan in HDTune didn't pick them up, but the normal scan did. There were quite a few red areas all over the drive. Luckily it failed right before the store refurb. warranty expired (30 days), so I got it replaced.

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

There are even 4500RPM drives that are comparable in some ways to these slugs. I'm not kidding. And if you like, go ahead and compare it with a Bigfoot.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Yea, the disk has become too small for me anyway but it explains why this CentOS6 testserver I have is so damn slow, I will put a Raptor in it's place

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Okay, tell me if this is just my SATA controller, but seriously???

Transfer rate:
Avg.: 3.27MB/s
O.D.: 3.31MB/s
I.D.: 3.21MB/s

Looks like the OS is in bleepin' PIO mode!

PIO is a dinosaur transfer mode that was popular when 386s and 486s ruled the universe.

You must get another cable and try again.

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Looks like the OS is in bleepin' PIO mode!

PIO is a dinosaur transfer mode that was popular when 386s and 486s ruled the universe.

You must get another cable and try again.

Um, I think someone already figured that out. Read the whole thread. And in case you're wondering, the cause was not having the right SATA drivers installed. Note SATA. A PATA drive would be WD800BB or WD800JB.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Um, I think someone already figured that out. Read the whole thread. And in case you're wondering, the cause was not having the right SATA drivers installed. Note SATA. A PATA drive would be WD800BB or WD800JB.

Windows could still do that bull when the motherboard is not in AHCI mode.

SATA HDDs look exactly like PATA HDDs to Windows when not in AHCI mode.
(And I/O errors occur within the ATA interface.)

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

R-E-A-D T-H-E W-H-O-L-E T-H-R-E-A-D

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

R-E-A-D T-H-E W-H-O-L-E T-H-R-E-A-D

I wasn't born yesterday.

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Who was???

[Shocker]

Re: Appalling performance from WD800JD-00LSA0

Okay, so I finally decided to disable AAM and measure again. That made things way better (the drive isn't a Black, but it's >4ms faster than before). And I still can't hear the drive in use. Now I actually think it's just as good as the 7200.7. AAM

Forget that I ever created this thread. It's not an awful drive at all.