[ubuntu-uk] Disk Benchmark

[Darren.Mansell at opengi.co.uk]

As the list seems to have less traffic I've got a poser:

My work PC is very slow with disk access. Any time I start copying large
files, or unzipping anything etc. it will grind to a halt.

It seems to be a faulty drive or disk cache etc. but I don't want to
have to install Windows to prove it.

Can anyone recommend any disk benchmarks or any settings I can check to
ensure DMA is turned on for the HDD? Otherwise I will have to install
Windows to prove the fault. If the fault isn't present in Windows it
will show a problem with Ubuntu.

The drive is SATA, the PC is about 18 months old. When trying to set DMA
I get:

root at darrenm-desktop:~# hdparm -d /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

Apparently this is because DMA is always on for SATA disks so isn't
really relevant anymore?

The slowdown seems to be CPU related which leads me to think it's DMA
related. The odd thing is the timings seem to be OK?

root at darrenm-desktop:~# hdparm -t /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  238 MB in  3.02 seconds =  78.79 MB/sec
root at darrenm-desktop:~# hdparm -T /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2248 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1123.65 MB/sec

Any advice on the matter will be gratefully received. (more info below)

Thanks.
Darren


Disk controller:

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE
Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8179
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
        I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
        I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family)
SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 2601
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        I/O ports at b800 [size=8]
        I/O ports at b400 [size=4]
        I/O ports at b000 [size=8]
        I/O ports at a800 [size=4]
        I/O ports at a400 [size=16]
        Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix


HDD:

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number:       WDC WD1600AAJS-00WAA0                   
        Serial Number:      WD-WMAS20360351                         
        Firmware Revision:  58.01D58                                
        Transport:          Serial, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA
Rev 2.5
Standards:

        Supported: 8 7 6 5

        Likely used: 8

Configuration:

        Logical         max     current

        cylinders       16383   16383

        heads           16      16

        sectors/track   63      63

        --

        CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064

        LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455

        LBA48  user addressable sectors:  312581808

        device size with M = 1024*1024:      152627 MBytes

        device size with M = 1000*1000:      160041 MBytes (160 GB)

Capabilities:

        LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)

        Queue depth: 32

        Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific
minimum 
        R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 16

        Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254

        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5
*udma6      
             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns

        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4

             Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns

Commands/features:

        Enabled Supported:

           *    SMART feature set

                Security Mode feature set

           *    Power Management feature set

           *    Write cache

           *    Look-ahead

           *    Host Protected Area feature set

           *    WRITE_BUFFER command

           *    READ_BUFFER command

           *    NOP cmd

           *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE

                Power-Up In Standby feature set

           *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up

                SET_MAX security extension

                Automatic Acoustic Management feature set

           *    48-bit Address feature set

           *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set

           *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE

           *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT

           *    SMART error logging

           *    SMART self-test

           *    General Purpose Logging feature set

           *    64-bit World wide name

           *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE

           *    SATA-I signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)

           *    SATA-II signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)

           *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)

           *    Host-initiated interface power management

           *    Phy event counters

                DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization

           *    Software settings preservation

           *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set

           *    SCT Long Sector Access (AC1)

           *    SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2)

           *    SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)

           *    SCT Features Control (AC4)

           *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)

                unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)

                unknown 206[13] (vendor specific)

Security:

        Master password revision code = 65534

                supported

        not     enabled

        not     locked

                frozen

        not     expired: security count

                supported: enhanced erase

        40min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 40min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE
UNIT. 
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 50014ee055d58541

        NAA             : 5

        IEEE OUI        : 14ee

        Unique ID       : 055d58541

Checksum: correct