Maxtor harddrive will not write at normal speed

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dread

Im running XPproSP1 on an Epox 8k3a+ with 512 pc400 corsair ram. Mobo has 2x
ide "normal" (IDE1 and 2, VIA 8233A) en 2x IDE RAID (IDE 3 and 4 in my story,
Highpoint 3.72).

Ide 1: WD 120 GB master <> Nec 2500a DVD-burner slave
Ide 2: Maxtor 40 GB master <> LiteOn 163d DVD-reader slave

Untill a few days ago I was running a RAID1 array on IDE 3 en 4, consisting of
2 Maxtor's 6Y120L0 discs. 1 disc on IDE3 and 1 on IDE4, both on cable select
and thus detected as masters. This worked fine.

I deleted this array in order to have more HD space (120 -> 240 gig). After
formatting both HDDs and partitioning them identically I realised there was
something wrong.
The writespeed on HDD(IDE)3 is between 35-40 mb/sec when I move/copy large
files from another HDD to it. When I try the same to HDD(IDE)4 the write speed
averages at 6 mb/sec, roughly 6 times slower. This is only a writespeed issue,
not readspeed, they both have the same proper readspeed.

My troubleshooting actions:
switched IDE3 and IDE4 including cables, NO RESULT, same HDD is still slow but
now on IDE3 instead of IDE4.
Maxtor knowledge base & FAQ: Used Powermax Diagnostic tool and WriteVerify tool
I did a full format on Powermax, writing 0’s to the entire disk surface and
then tested it fully and the disk passed flawlessly
I took out the fast HDD and tried with only the slow one on IDE3&4, No
difference.

Now it gets intresting:
I took out the 40GB Maxtor on IDE2 and put in the slow HDD (120gb Maxtor) as a
master on the secondary IDE and behold, the HDD’s writespeed is NOT slow
anymore and functioning totally normal with speeds upto 42 mb/second.

I am baffled by this, it must prove there’s nothing wrong with the drive (as
Powermax proved as well), switching IDE3&4 proves there is nothing wrong with
the IDE ports……

I spent 2 days and many hours on this issue allready, mainly on Dutch forums,
but nobody seems able to help me, so I am trying the international community
now.
 
dread said:
Im running XPproSP1 on an Epox 8k3a+ with 512 pc400 corsair ram. Mobo has 2x
ide "normal" (IDE1 and 2, VIA 8233A) en 2x IDE RAID (IDE 3 and 4 in my story,
Highpoint 3.72).

Ide 1: WD 120 GB master <> Nec 2500a DVD-burner slave
Ide 2: Maxtor 40 GB master <> LiteOn 163d DVD-reader slave

Untill a few days ago I was running a RAID1 array on IDE 3 en 4, consisting of
2 Maxtor's 6Y120L0 discs. 1 disc on IDE3 and 1 on IDE4, both on cable select
and thus detected as masters. This worked fine.

I deleted this array in order to have more HD space (120 -> 240 gig). After
formatting both HDDs and partitioning them identically I realised there was
something wrong.
The writespeed on HDD(IDE)3 is between 35-40 mb/sec when I move/copy large
files from another HDD to it. When I try the same to HDD(IDE)4 the write speed
averages at 6 mb/sec, roughly 6 times slower. This is only a writespeed issue,
not readspeed, they both have the same proper readspeed.

My troubleshooting actions:
switched IDE3 and IDE4 including cables, NO RESULT, same HDD is still slow but
now on IDE3 instead of IDE4.
Maxtor knowledge base & FAQ: Used Powermax Diagnostic tool and WriteVerify tool
I did a full format on Powermax, writing 0's to the entire disk surface and
then tested it fully and the disk passed flawlessly
I took out the fast HDD and tried with only the slow one on IDE3&4, No
difference.

Now it gets intresting:
I took out the 40GB Maxtor on IDE2 and put in the slow HDD (120gb Maxtor) as a
master on the secondary IDE and behold, the HDD's writespeed is NOT slow
anymore and functioning totally normal with speeds upto 42 mb/second.

I am baffled by this, it must prove there's nothing wrong with the drive (as
Powermax proved as well), switching IDE3&4 proves there is nothing wrong with
the IDE ports..

I spent 2 days and many hours on this issue allready, mainly on Dutch forums,
but nobody seems able to help me, so I am trying the international community
now.
From your troubleshooting, it sounds like the highpoint RAID controller cant
cope with the data throughput when both channels are in single mode.
What was the performance like when the array was still intact?
Have you tried a PCI RAID controller?

hamman
 
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