Slow Raptor?

[Oldspook]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:
Maximum read speed - 73.2 MB/s
Minimum read speed - 41.8 MB/s
Average read speed - 64.7 MB/s

Is this typical for a 75GB Raptor?

Oldspook

 

[J. Clarke]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:
Maximum read speed - 73.2 MB/s
Minimum read speed - 41.8 MB/s
Average read speed - 64.7 MB/s

Is this typical for a 75GB Raptor?

It's rated at 72 MB/sec sustained transfer, which is normally for the
outermost zone, so yeah, it looks typical.

What were you _expecting_?

 

[Arno Wagner]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:
Maximum read speed - 73.2 MB/s
Minimum read speed - 41.8 MB/s
Average read speed - 64.7 MB/s

Is this typical for a 75GB Raptor?

I don;t have a raptor, but scaling 7200 RPM numbers up to
10.000 RPM suggests there are plausible. After all 10.000 RPM
is just about 38% more than 7200 RPM

And why do you think the above numbers are "slow"? They are
definitely not, unless this was a really fast disk, i.e.
a 15.000 RPM SCSI disk. The Raptors are high end consumer
grade, but not the fastest disks money can buy.

Arno

 

[dg]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:
Maximum read speed - 73.2 MB/s
Minimum read speed - 41.8 MB/s
Average read speed - 64.7 MB/s

Is this typical for a 75GB Raptor?

Oldspook

Did you expect the "150 MB/s" claimed by either the SATA interface or the
drive? Years ago when they started selling UATA 66 hard drives I was quite
disappointed to find that my fancy new IBM Deskstar could only transfer
~22MB/s-the exact same speed before installing the promise card/80 wire
cable and enabling the drives faster rate. Both the drive and the promise
contoller proudly claimed 66MB/s but I didn't realize that there wasn't an
IDE drive in existance that could go that fast, the claimed transfer speeds
are for the interface only which means quite little when there isn't a drive
that can output data at those rates. Everytime I see a drive labeled with
specs like 133MB/s or 150MB/s I feel a little bit angered at the marketing.

41-73 MB/s is pretty damn fast.

--Dan

 

[Derek Baker]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:
Maximum read speed - 73.2 MB/s
Minimum read speed - 41.8 MB/s
Average read speed - 64.7 MB/s

Is this typical for a 75GB Raptor?

Oldspook

I don't have a Raptor, but your post made me run HDTach on my WD800JB. Was
rather surprised to see a flat transfer rate graph at 15MB/s! Seems when I
defaulted my BIOS settings recently the onboard controller was set to PIO.
The really interesting thing was I hadn't noticed it in several days of use!

 

[Chuck U. Farley]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:

that can output data at those rates. Everytime I see a drive labeled with
specs like 133MB/s or 150MB/s I feel a little bit angered at the marketing.

41-73 MB/s is pretty damn fast.

Which is why all of the SATA marketing hype is just that, hype. Other than
providing the little round cables, SATA controllers offer nothing whatsoever
over PATA controllers because even the fastest drives available can't
overload the PATA interface... yet.

 

[Bob Willard]

I ran HD Tach version 2.70 on my WD 75GB Raptor, results is:
Maximum read speed - 73.2 MB/s
Minimum read speed - 41.8 MB/s
Average read speed - 64.7 MB/s

Is this typical for a 75GB Raptor?

Oldspook

If the HDtach graph shows 72-73 MB/s for on the left and 52-53 MB/s on the
right, with a few dips to <45 MB/s, then that is as it should be. 70+ MB/s
is for the outermost band, 50+ MB/s is for the innermost band, and the dips
probably correspond to either an area where a bad sector forced a seek to
a replacement sector, or where some other app stole some CPU time from
HDtach. If the dips in the graph are repeatable, then I'd bet on sector
replacement as the cause; else, the CPU time thief.

 

[J. Clarke]

Which is why all of the SATA marketing hype is just that, hype. Other than
providing the little round cables, SATA controllers offer nothing
whatsoever over PATA controllers

Except hot-plug.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Which is why all of the SATA marketing hype is just that, hype.

Still as clueless as ever.

Other than
providing the little round cables, SATA controllers offer nothing whatsoever
over PATA controllers because even the fastest drives available can't
overload the PATA interface... yet.

SATA arrays can.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I don't have a Raptor, but your post made me run HDTach on my WD800JB. Was
rather surprised to see a flat transfer rate graph at 15MB/s! Seems when I
defaulted my BIOS settings recently the onboard controller was set to PIO.

PIO can't manage 15MB/s.
Must have been MW-DMA2 which is the same clockrate as PIO4.

 

[Derek Baker]

PIO can't manage 15MB/s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pio

Must have been MW-DMA2 which is the same clockrate as PIO4.

 

[Derek Baker]

Yes, and?

Mode 4 16.7

 

[Derek Baker]

Mode 4 16.7

Nevermind: it is Multi-Word DMA Mode 2.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pio

Yes, and?