# Hard drive slowing down? (SOLVED = comp died)

## Serinox

First off let me apologize if this is in the wrong section it seemed like the best fit.

Ok so hears the problem my computer (an acer 5002wlmi) is slowing down, alot. when I run "hdparm -tT /dev/hda" i would get something like this.

```

localhost ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   862 MB in  2.00 seconds = 431.03 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   86 MB in  3.06 seconds =  28.11 MB/sec

```

now i could have sworn that i was getting a much higher speed for the cached reads(something like ~840 MB/sec) and since i noticed my computer slowing down i ran this and found that it seems to actually be slowing down  :Sad: 

the other interesting thing that is that when i run "hdparm -i /dev/hda" some of the modes are doubled ?

```

localhost ~ # hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=ST9100822A, FwRev=3.01, SerialNo=3LG1MLQM

 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4

 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=195371568

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma3 udma4 *udma5 

 AdvancedPM=yes: unknown setting WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 2:  ATA/ATAPI-1 ATA/ATAPI-2 ATA/ATAPI-3 ATA/ATAPI-4 ATA/ATAPI-5 ATA/ATAPI-6

 * signifies the current active mode

```

and i dont know whats up with that either.

i'm currently running gentoo-sources 2.6.17 on ~amd64 with hdparm 6.9 and my /dev/hda has these setting

```

localhost ~ # hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 multcount    = 16 (on)

 IO_support   =  3 (32-bit w/sync)

 unmaskirq    =  1 (on)

 using_dma    =  1 (on)

 keepsettings =  0 (off)

 readonly     =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry     = 16383/255/63, sectors = 195371568, start = 0

```

there has been no repartitioning on this drive and i havent messed with the setting in a while. any ideas on where my hd's performance is going?

as always thanks in advance.

                                       Serinox...

----------

## Gentree

dont worry about the udma repetition, cant explain but does not seems to be a prob.

```
bash-3.1#hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=ST3120026A, FwRev=8.01, SerialNo=5JT4E937

 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4

 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=234441648

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma3 udma4 *udma5 

 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 2:  ATA/ATAPI-1 ATA/ATAPI-2 A

TA/ATAPI-3 ATA/ATAPI-4 ATA/ATAPI-5 ATA/ATAPI-6

 * signifies the current active mode

bash-3.1#hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 multcount    = 16 (on)

 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)

 unmaskirq    =  1 (on)

 using_dma    =  1 (on)

 keepsettings =  0 (off)

 readonly     =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry     = 16383/255/63, sectors = 234441648, start = 0

bash-3.1#
```

You could look at changing IO_support and readahead. Sometimes biggest numbers are not always best.

Admitting that you are a bit unsure what you were getting before it is more likely to be fs fragmentation IMO esp if this in reiserfs. (R4 to a lesser degree.)

Niether have defrag so you need to tar or just plain copy to clean it up.

Anticipating the next question : gparted.

 :Cool: 

----------

## Serinox

the file system is ext3 though and it has no problems when it checks every 27 mounts.

[EDIT]

ok so i was playing with the hdparm -c flag (IO) and this is what i got 

```

localhost ~ # hdparm -c1 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 setting 32-bit IO_support flag to 1

 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)

localhost ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   736 MB in  2.00 seconds = 367.46 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   64 MB in  3.05 seconds =  20.99 MB/sec

localhost ~ # hdparm -c2 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 setting 32-bit IO_support flag to 2

 IO_support   =  2 (16-bit)

localhost ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   744 MB in  2.00 seconds = 371.53 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   76 MB in  3.02 seconds =  25.13 MB/sec

localhost ~ # hdparm -c3 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 setting 32-bit IO_support flag to 3

 IO_support   =  3 (32-bit w/sync)

localhost ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   732 MB in  2.00 seconds = 365.41 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   76 MB in  3.02 seconds =  25.18 MB/sec

```

it seems to just keep going down   :Shocked: 

----------

## Gentree

sounds ominous. 

smartmon may give you some indication of impending doom, start smartmond and tail -f /var/log/messages

sys-apps/smartmontools

HTH   :Cool: 

----------

## Serinox

ok so i emerge smartmontools and started smartd (the only new thing that showed up after emerge) and now my /var/log/messages shows this

```

42 localhost smartd[8818]: Device: /dev/hda, opened

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8818]: Device: /dev/hda, found in smartd database.

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8818]: Device: /dev/hda, is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8818]: Device: /dev/hdc, opened

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8818]: Device: /dev/hdc, packet devices [this device CD/DVD] not SMART capable

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8818]: Monitoring 1 ATA and 0 SCSI devices

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8820]: smartd has fork()ed into background mode. New PID=8820.

Nov 18 02:22:42 localhost smartd[8820]: file /var/run/smartd.pid written containing PID 8820

```

nothing that makes me think impending doom. so right now i'm looking at smartctl to test my disk

[EDIT]

ok so i ran a extended test with "smartctl -t LONG /dev/hda"

```

Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error

# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      4145         -

```

so my hard drive has about 5 months of usage. which is rather short for the life time of a hard disk right?

btw my disk temp is pegged at 42-47 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  Nov 18 04:22:42 localhost smartd[8820]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 47 to 42
> 
> 

 

is that a average temp? i would almost be willing to bet my cpu runs cooler

----------

## Gentree

OK smartmon is not a guarantee but it looks good. I also suggest you look at Seagate's site , they provide some very good diagnostic tools , one of the reasons I buy their disks.

Every disk has it's own normal temp that depends on design usage and airflow . My Seatgate Baracudas run around 50C so that does not look unusual.

The mementus is designed for notebook use with the accent on silence and low power rather than speed. Could it be that you have some acoustic optimisation turned on that is spinning down your disk? 

 *hdparm -h wrote:*   

>  -Z   disable Seagate auto-powersaving mode

 

 :Cool: 

----------

## Serinox

ok well i'll look at the powersaving settings to see if any of those got turned on

btw -Z gave me this

```

localhost ~ # hdparm -Z /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 disabling Seagate auto powersaving mode

 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(seagatepwrsave) failed: Input/output error

```

----------

## bollucks

Is your hard drive near full? Performance drops off dramatically once a drive is >75% full with any filesystem.

----------

## Serinox

no its around 50% full but the speed drop happened overnight basically, and the harddrive didnt gain a signifigant ammount of data overnight.

P.S just got the new Wii from Nintendo so if you dont hear from me for a while thats what happened  :Smile: 

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Serinox,

The read and write speeds depends on where on the drive you test, although the cached reads should stay the same, with one proviso, that system is being used for nothing else. Other applications moving data around will take bandwidth away from the hard drive test.

```
unmaskirq    =  1 (on)
```

is a BadThing. In days of old, it was intended to allow UARTS with no FIFOs to operate above 9600 characters per second, now it just slows down disk reads if unmasked IRQs appear.

----------

## Serinox

ok removed the unmaskirq setting and now i get this

```

localhost ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   886 MB in  2.00 seconds = 442.92 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   54 MB in  3.06 seconds =  17.63 MB/sec

```

so it sorta helped with the cached reads (+10mbs) but it cut the buffered reads are cut in half

----------

## Serinox

curious most curious indeed.

i ran "hdparm -Tt /dev/hda" after downgrading to v6.6 and guess what?

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> localhost ~ # hdparm -Tt /dev/hda
> 
> /dev/hda:
> ...

 

not sure why the newer version is not working out so well  :Question:  any ideas? is my harddrive old enough that the newer version is not going to work correctly with it?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Serinox,

I suspect its something trivial like a factor of 2 error in the arithmetic in one version or the other.

Read the changelog

----------

## Serinox

i dont think that was it because my computer is actually running faster now, it used to take me 1 min maybe to make it to the desktop and then when it was slowed down it would take me anywhere from 3-5 min to make it to my desktop (my windows machine was looking faster at that point   :Evil or Very Mad:  ) but then i downgraded and its back to taking me 1 min.

----------

## Serinox

well it seems fate decided to fix everything for me. to make a long story short the comp fell about 3 feet straight down (off a desk) and is for the most part dead (barely makes it past post now) so that solves it i guess  :Sad: 

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Serinox,

Only the hard drive(s) are likely to be damaged by the fall.

Hard drive shock proofing is much improved if they are off.

Reseat all the plug in parts as the shock from the impact may have loosened them.

Thats memory and cards. The CPU will be OK.

----------

## Gentree

I guess that's what you call a system crash  :Mad: 

OK , while serious is try to put humpty-dumpty back together I'll take up his story:

```
bash-3.2#hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   602 MB in  2.00 seconds = 300.71 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  158 MB in  3.02 seconds =  52.25 MB/sec

bash-3.2#hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   1312 MB in  2.00 seconds = 655.04 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  154 MB in  3.03 seconds =  50.86 MB/sec

```

So I can confirm his observation, in between that two runs I retrograded to hdparm-6.6 .

Significantly more than a possible x2 calculation "error", but not seeing the drop in buffer reads that he reported.

now for a reboot.   :Cool: 

finger chronometer at the ready I just rebooted with each version and only recorded a difference of one finger in boot time. So no able to reproduce that symptom.

Rerunning hdparm it seems the repeatability is poor enough to account for the deviation from needy's x2 theory.  I saw a warning during compile as well:

```
hdparm.c: In function 'process_dev':

hdparm.c:1008: warning: 'packed' attribute ignored for field of type 'char[511u]'
```

maybe that has some bearing.   :Confused: 

----------

## Serinox

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> Serinox,
> 
> Only the hard drive(s) are likely to be damaged by the fall.
> 
> Hard drive shock proofing is much improved if they are off.
> ...

 

Already tried all of that, the problem is the hard drives were on and the laptop casing is a cheap plastic that shattered in several places  :Sad:  tried putting the hd in a different pc as well it just makes a clicking noise and tells me that the hd is no good.

----------

