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| Thread ID: 38045 | 2003-09-25 14:43:00 | Difficulty transferring data between hard drives | voodoo (3587) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 177877 | 2003-09-25 14:43:00 | I currently have two hard drives, a Seagate 40 gig 5400rpm and a Seagate 80 gig 7200rpm (with the standard 2mb of cache) The 80gb is my primary, and the 40gb my slave . I have no problems transferring data from primary to slave, the problem occurs when i try to transfer data from slave to primary - it takes an agonisingly long time . eg . 90 minutes for a 200mb file . I know this isn't right . any help would be appreciated!!! *I've tried transfering data from the 40gb drive over a network to other workgroup computers and it still takes heaps of time . I'm thinking it's a hardware problem but I dunno how to fix it . :( |
voodoo (3587) | ||
| 177878 | 2003-09-25 15:22:00 | First of all, are they on the same IDE cable.. this can decrease performance... stick one on another IDE cable (generally where the cdrom drive is) and try it then.. it may go *slightly* faster... Assuming your running each drive at ATA100 standard then this will mean they are transfering at 100mb/ps... it should take a few seconds to transfer between drives... same time for network assuming 100mbps. These speeds are therefore very slow (obviously) What OS are you running, some are better at transfering data than others.. Also try defragging your drive, this may increase speeds One more thing i just remembered... check that the drives are set on DMA (if you are running XP) right click on 'my computer' goto hardware, device manager... once in there, go down to 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers', right click on Primary IDE Channel, goto advance settings tab, and make sure they are all in DMA, not P10, repeat for Secondary Hope that helps some - David p.s i see this problem is keeping you up :P i.e. posted at 1.43 |
DangerousDave (697) | ||
| 177879 | 2003-09-26 05:32:00 | One way might be to use xcopy, which will use as much memory as it can get as a buffer. Maybe not a "fix", but it might help. I would certainly try moving it onto the other IDE interface. That should go a "bit" faster than that rate. 37kB/s does not seem right, as you say. It actually seems bloody ridiculous. :O Does the disk make a lot of headmoving noises as the agonisingly slow copy goes on? That might be caused by extreme fragmentation. But it would be extreme. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 177880 | 2003-09-26 10:41:00 | Thanks for the help guys . I'll see how it goes . I've checked my device manager and both IDE channels are set to DMA so no problems there . will switch my cables around and see if that helps . :) |
voodoo (3587) | ||
| 177881 | 2003-09-27 01:21:00 | Only other thing I would suggest would be to try a file transfer in safe mode to eliminate any problems such as anti-virus causing problems. | Pheonix (280) | ||
| 177882 | 2003-09-27 02:04:00 | Ho DangerousDave Would you care to run a Janet and John level description of the difference between DMA and P10? Thanks |
Scouse (83) | ||
| 177883 | 2003-09-27 02:44:00 | DMA mode (Direct Memory Access) is where the motherboard chipset accesses the data on the drive directly without using the CPU (Central Processing Unit) itself to perform the operation. It therefore does not put any load on the CPU, and is faster. PIO (Programmed Input - Output) is where the CPU itself handles all the data requests (on top of running all the programs), which is a slower means of accessing the data on the drive. Thats a simplistic overview, but may answer your question. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 177884 | 2003-09-27 04:27:00 | Thanks G'father. I am currently saving my pension surplus towards a second drive, hence the interest in the topic. My readings currently show Primary IDE - advanced settings: DMA if available. Current transfer mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5. Secondary IDE - Advanced settings: P10 only. Current Transfer mode: P10 only. Can I take it that if and when the second drive comes along, I need to modify the secondary readings? |
Scouse (83) | ||
| 177885 | 2003-09-27 04:35:00 | Depends on whether you have anything plugged into the second IDE interface. It can only work with the methods supported by any drive plugged into it. :D If there's nothing there it won't have any reason to select a mode which might need setting up (even to do nothing) at startup. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 177886 | 2003-09-27 05:57:00 | Some older drives don't support DMA, so some may have to leave as PIO. Strangely enough, PIO was enabled on my machine for secondary IDE Interface, m$ must feel people have old cd-roms or something on that cable... oh well, all fixed and faster now :D - David |
DangerousDave (697) | ||
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