HDD too slow?

nikhilmitta

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Apr 1, 2009
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Hello,

An old external HDD was not being detected by my PC, so I dimantled its casing with the intention of building a PC with other leftover parts. Win 7 took a long time to install and the OS seems to be a little unresponsive. Even normal videos turn jerky while watching.
The drive has failed the Seagate Tools Short Drive Run Test.
I am not interested in buying another drive and I am looking to salvage some performance.
Windows Experience Index puts the drive's performance at 4.9
There seems to be a bad sector on a non-boot partition.

Is there anything I can do to make it better?
 

nikhilmitta

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So you want me to do a Zero Fill from DOS?
I would rather leave such procedures as a final option as I spent a few hours for installing the OS.
Any other 'non-destructive' operations you can suggest?
Thanks.
 

nikhilmitta

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Apr 1, 2009
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I installed Sandra Lite on the PC and ran some tests.
The read speed was 53 MB/s
Could not get the Write speed test to run as 'the disk is not empty'

Log is as below:


SiSoftware Sandra

SCSI General Properties
Controller : 4
Bus : 0
Target ID : 0
Logical Unit No. : 0

General Capabilities
Model : GENERI
Revision : HA431DD0
Serial Number

General Capabilities
Channel : Master
Type : ATA
Interface : SATA
Removable : No
Model : GENERIC
Revision : HA431DD0
ATA/ATAPI Version : 7.30
Cache Size : 16MB

Drive Geometry
CHS Geometry : 16383 x 16 x 63
CHS Total Sectors : 16514064
LBA Total Sectors : 976773168
No. ECC Bytes : 4bytes
Capacity : 465.76GB

Properties
NCQ - Native Command Queuing : Yes
PEC - Physical Event Counters : No
LBA Support : Yes

Features
S.M.A.R.T Support : Yes
Security Support : Yes
Power Management Support : Yes
ACPI Power Management : Yes
Power-up in Standby : Yes
Packet Command Interface : No
Removable Media : No
Look-Ahead Buffer : Yes
Write-Back Cache : Yes
Host Protect Area : Yes
Microcode Update : Yes
Acoustic Management : Yes
48-bit LBA : Yes
Device Config Overlay : Yes

Active Features
S.M.A.R.T Enabled : Yes
Security Enabled : No
Power Management Enabled : Yes
ACPI Power Management Enabled : No
Power-up in Standby Enabled : No
Look-Ahead Buffer Enabled : Yes
Write-Back Cache Enabled : Yes
Host Protect Area Enabled : Yes
Acoustic Management Enabled : No

S.M.A.R.T Information
Version : 1.01
ATA Commands Support : Yes
ATAPI Commands Support : Yes
S.M.A.R.T Commands Support : Yes

S.M.A.R.T Data
Spin-up Time (03) : 170 (63 - 169) [00005D6E]
Start/Stop Count (04) : 253 (0 - 253) [0000020B]
Re-Allocated/Retired Sector Count (05) : 253 (63 - 253) [00000001]
Seek Error Rate (07) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
Seek Time Performance (08) : 252 (187 - 249) [0000D2A5]
Power-On Time (09) : 247 (0 - 247) [00000936]
Spin Retry Count (0A) : 253 (157 - 252) [00000000]
Calibration Retry Count (0B) : 253 (223 - 252) [00000000]
Power Cycle Count (0C) : 252 (0 - 252) [00000301]
TBD : 100 (0 - 100) [00000000]
TBE : 47 (0 - 38) [35180035]
Unsafe Power Off Count (C0) : 253 (0 - 253) [00000000]
Load/Unload Cycle Count (C1) : 253 (0 - 253) [00000000]
Drive Temperature (C2) : 45 (0 - 253) [00000035]
ECC Corrected/Program Failure Count (C3) : 253 (0 - 252) [00004821]
Re-Allocated Data/Erase Failure Count (C4) : 253 (0 - 253) [00000000]
Pending Sector/Read Failure Count (C5) : 253 (0 - 253) [00000002]
Un-Correctable/Read Sector Count (C6) : 252 (0 - 252) [00000001]
CRC/Write Sector Count (C7) : 199 (0 - 197) [00000002]
Write Error Rate/Read Commands (C8) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
Soft Read Error Rate/Write Commands (C9) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
Data Address Mark/Bit Errors (CA) : 253 (0 - 251) [00000000]
Run Out Cancel/Read Corrected (CB) : 253 (180 - 252) [00000000]
Shock Count Write Open/Bad Block Full (CC) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
Shock Rate Write Open/Max PE Count (CD) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
Spin High Current/Max Erase Count (CF) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
Spin Buzz/Avg Erase Count (D0) : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
TD2 : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
TD3 : 253 (0 - 252) [00000000]
TD4 : 1 (0 - 1) [0000DBCB]

Sensors
Power-On Time : 98 day(s), 6 hour(s)
Disk Enclosure Temperature : 53.00°C

Transfer Modes Support
I/O Queue Depth : 32
Block Size : 16
Maximum SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300

Transfer Modes Active
Current Block Transfer : 16
Current SATA Mode : G2 / SATA300

Translation Mode Disk Geometry
CHS Geometry : 60801 x 255 x 63
Bytes Per Sector : 512bytes
Capacity : 465.76GB

Cache Information
Read Cache : Yes
Write Cache : Yes
Prefetch Buffer : No

Partitions Information
Partition 1 : MBR NTFS 992.5kB
Partition 2 : MBR NTFS 97.66GB
Partition 3 : MBR NTFS 97.67GB
Partition 4 : MBR Boot NTFS 146.48GB

Logical Drives
Logical Drive : C:
Logical Drive : D:
Logical Drive : E:
Logical Drive : F:
Logical Drive : G:

Performance Enhancing Tips
Warning 3107 : Drive temperature is too high! Check fans!
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.



SiSoftware Sandra

Benchmark Results
Drive Score : 52.4MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher Scores mean Better Performance.
Binary Numeral System (base 2) : 1GB(/s) = 1024MB(/s), 1MB(/s) = 1024kB(/s), 1kB(/s) = 1024 bytes(/s), etc.

Benchmark Results
Random Access Time : 16.67ms
Results Interpretation : Lower Scores mean Better Performance.
Decimal Numeral System (base 10) : 1s = 1000ms, 1ms = 1000µs, 1µs = 1000ns, etc.

Benchmark Timings
Time to Read Capacity : 2 hour(s), 39 minute(s), 5 second(s)
Results Interpretation : Lower Scores mean Better Performance.

Performance per Thread
Drive Score : 13.1MB/s
No. Threads : 4
Results Interpretation : Higher Scores mean Better Performance.
Binary Numeral System (base 2) : 1GB(/s) = 1024MB(/s), 1MB(/s) = 1024kB(/s), 1kB(/s) = 1024 bytes(/s), etc.

Performance vs. Speed
Drive Score : 7.45kB/s/rpm
Random Access Time : 2.315µs/rpm
Results Interpretation : Higher Scores mean Better Performance.

Windows Experience Index
Current Drive : 4.9
Results Interpretation : Higher Scores mean Better Performance.

Detailed Results
Speed at position 0% : 56.33MB/s (7.39MB/s - 56.33MB/s) (108%)
Speed at position 3% : 65.77MB/s (14.48MB/s - 65.77MB/s) (126%)
Speed at position 7% : 64.65MB/s (13.84MB/s - 64.65MB/s) (123%)
Speed at position 10% : 53.65MB/s (3.46MB/s - 53.65MB/s) (102%)
Speed at position 13% : 62.68MB/s (5.82MB/s - 62.68MB/s) (120%)
Speed at position 17% : 57.17MB/s (4MB/s - 57.17MB/s) (109%)
Speed at position 20% : 52.89MB/s (3.74MB/s - 52.89MB/s) (101%)
Speed at position 23% : 56.32MB/s (5.33MB/s - 56.32MB/s) (107%)
Speed at position 27% : 64.5MB/s (11.79MB/s - 64.5MB/s) (123%)
Speed at position 30% : 60.52MB/s (10.47MB/s - 60.52MB/s) (116%)
Speed at position 33% : 57.13MB/s (8.26MB/s - 57.13MB/s) (109%)
Speed at position 37% : 60.38MB/s (7MB/s - 60.38MB/s) (115%)
Speed at position 40% : 50.82MB/s (5.16MB/s - 50.82MB/s) (97%)
Speed at position 43% : 60MB/s (13MB/s - 60MB/s) (115%)
Speed at position 47% : 58MB/s (12.29MB/s - 58MB/s) (111%)
Speed at position 50% : 51.8MB/s (7.28MB/s - 51.8MB/s) (99%)
Speed at position 53% : 52.43MB/s (5.13MB/s - 52.43MB/s) (100%)
Speed at position 57% : 49.69MB/s (4.35MB/s - 49.69MB/s) (95%)
Speed at position 60% : 49.2MB/s (3.55MB/s - 49.2MB/s) (94%)
Speed at position 63% : 52.78MB/s (6.52MB/s - 52.78MB/s) (101%)
Speed at position 67% : 52MB/s (4.68MB/s - 52MB/s) (99%)
Speed at position 70% : 52.91MB/s (11.65MB/s - 52.91MB/s) (101%)
Speed at position 73% : 48MB/s (6.33MB/s - 48MB/s) (92%)
Speed at position 77% : 42.2MB/s (2.78MB/s - 42.2MB/s) (81%)
Speed at position 80% : 41.65MB/s (5.4MB/s - 41.65MB/s) (79%)
Speed at position 83% : 48.15MB/s (10.52MB/s - 48.15MB/s) (92%)
Speed at position 87% : 41.44MB/s (5.77MB/s - 41.44MB/s) (79%)
Speed at position 90% : 39.93MB/s (2.66MB/s - 39.93MB/s) (76%)
Speed at position 93% : 42.24MB/s (8.8MB/s - 42.24MB/s) (81%)
Speed at position 97% : 41.25MB/s (7.78MB/s - 41.25MB/s) (79%)
Speed at position 100% : 37.7MB/s (7.7MB/s - 37.7MB/s) (72%)
Random Access Time : 16.67ms (10.64ms - 292.75ms)
Full Stroke Access Time : 18.82ms (17.44ms - 318ms)

Benchmark Status
Result ID : GENERIC (500.1GB, SATA300, 16MB Cache)
Computer : Intel DG33FB
Platform Compliance : x64
System Timer : 2.34MHz
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
I/O Queue Depth : 4 request(s)
Block Size : 1MB
Bytes Per Sector : 4kB

Volume Information
Capacity : 465.76GB

Physical Disk
Model : GENERIC
Version : HA431DD0
Interface : SATA300
Rotational Speed : 7200rpm
Removable Drive : No
Queueing On : Yes
Cache Size : 16MB

Hope someone can see an issue.
Thanks.
 

nikhilmitta

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Apr 1, 2009
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I am trying a low level format with the tool from www.hddguru.com but the speed it achieves is only 3.2MB/s and at this rate a power failure will need the process to be restarted. (It has happened twice already)
Is there any tool that does the job faster?