Odd benchmark results on external

[vartok]

i just got a WD My Book Home external HDD from newegg the other day. So far its been fairly good, but the speed is a little odd. I have it connected via the eSATA port on my case. The speeds i get then transfering files to or from it bounce around quite a bit. any where from 75MB/s to 35MB/s. with rare "stalls". Now i know 35 is still faster than most USB drive so i shouldnt complain too much... but just being courous, i ran a read benchmark five HD tune and something doesnt look right...

is that normal for a eSATA drive of should i contact WD while i still have the space to copy the files back if i need to send it in.

 

[buwish]

Check this link out. It should give you an idea where the top of the line esata drives stand.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/05/esata-is-faster-than-usb-3-0-at-least-right-now/

 

[sub mesa]

Could you post the "File benchmark" test also?

 

[vartok]

Could you post the "File benchmark" test also?

here ya go... i ran this test several times and got seemingly random results

 

[sminlal]

Are you sure that nothing else (a virus scanner, for instance) is accessing the drive at the same time you're running the benchmark? That would throw the results off...

 

[vartok]

nothing it tied to the drive (i.e. no programs are folder monitoring) and i disabled my anti-virus and the results were just as erratic

 

[vartok]

ok, so i got bored waiting on a post back from yall (i know it was easter, im not complaining) or an email back from WD... so i disassembled the drive an connected it to an internal SATA port.. tested perfect on both tests... and was actuall about 20MB/s faster.

So this would mean i either got a bad eSATA cable from newegg, of the SATA controler sucks in the enclosure.... either way i have a working 1TB drive for $80... ill let you guys know if WD says anything.

 

[sub mesa]

Try the disk on a normal motherboard SATA port, and do benchmarks. Also check its SMART values. That should give you a fair clue of what's going on.

If it performs normally; it's likely an issue with your external enclosure.

 

[vartok]

just got an email back from WD...

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Gustavo R.

Unfortunately the eSata interface is not well supported by Windows 7, this is an operating system issue and we are working together with Microsoft to fix it, unfortunately we do not have an estimated time or release for this fix.

Sincerely,
Gustavo R.
Western Digital Service and Support

sounds like a load of BS to me

 

[sub mesa]

Yes; with eSATA it should be just a Serial ATA disk. I don't even think Windows can see the difference between a normal SATA disk and an eSATA one.

However, its not a complete impossibility. There may be some truth in it; just like early Windows has some bug with USB2, causing the laptop battery to drain much faster whenever a USB2 device was connected to the system. Such kind of bugs can exist; but i don't think this is the issue here.

 

[vartok]

maybe what they really mean is that the internal sata controller isnt supported very well by windows 7. I not have the drive internal and it runs great.... although the model number displays different which i why i think its mote the controller they use, the the port.

 

[sub mesa]

I don't that's the case. I think any normal HDD connected to that controller would show normal scores. That's something you can test; connect any other HDD to that same cable, see if it has problems still.

I still recommend you to try the drive on your onboard SATA ports instead. Do benchmarks and check the SMART values for the drive. You would need to get it outside its external casing to diagnose this way.