Hey all, I posted this to storagereview.com's forum as there's alot of HDD experts there, but I'm sure there's some very intelligent lurkers here, and more people to boot, so if anyone has any suggestions i'd appreciate it muchly.
I've been a big fan of optomising disk speed for a long time as best as possible (within my budget constraints) as I for one DETEST the current speed of storage on computers at the moment (if only it expanded as quick as CPU and video cards)
Anyhow - here is my query.
Can anyone suggest to me _further_ ways to optomise my speed with the below.
IBM 75GXP 30gb hdd (c
Maxtor 60gb 5400rpm (d
Windows will be on C:
Program files on D: including all things in the "Startup" menu (windows/system dll's and interface will be loading along with virus scan - motherboard monitor, etc etc - off of C: and D: - i think this could be a nice speedup to my boot time)
I normally run a 10000kb smartdrive from dos (i still find this speeds things up to be honest) but with a /X command to stop write behinds being potentially missed in a crash)
Hard disks will be one partition only! (sorry i hate partitions) and 8kb clusters /z:16 (4 is too slow, bigger than 8 = too much space)
250mb perm swap - norton speed disk optomised. (D
Each disk will be on it's own ATA 33 interface. ****(read lower on this)****
DMA obviously enabled - Win98SE with BH6 1.02 board (SS bios)
"Network Server" file mode selected within control panel - rather than desktop machine
That's about all the optomisations I know, can anyone else suggest anything?
**** note on ATA 33, please do not dispute this, in this thread - I realise it's a SLIGHT limitation, however it can not be changed - please suggest other methods of speeding up)
and here's why ATA 33 wont restrict me
in benchmarks where the hard disk is the ONLY THING reading - and reading a SEQUENTIAL file from the hard disk - then ATA 33 will cut up to 6mb a second from my reads.
HOWEVER in "real world" instances- how often will I be actually noticing this when I'm USING the computer and the heads are moving around the disk, as well as the CPU processing the data, rather than just reading it and benchmarking it, or sending it through my network card-
I think unless I opt for raid ATA 33 is FINE by todays standards and real world executing of programs etc - with a D: swap file I'll notice VERY little slow down
Either way I dont wish to debate this (please?) - so any other speedup suggestions from people who are even more into the HDD optomisation scene please let me know.
Actually just to stop any "whingers" - and to proove I know what I mena - the ONLY time I feel I can truely notice the slowdown from ATA 33 will be copying from the C: to D: directly on large files...... (and i mean 33mb a second max - i really dont care, it's devestatingly fast)
by the way the CPU in this box is a Celeron 566 @ 870mhz or 952 (will have to wait and see) but 34mhz FSB on the hdd's shouldnt kill it at 870mhz, and I figure this cpu is good enough to process 33mb a second (at times?) no?
I've been a big fan of optomising disk speed for a long time as best as possible (within my budget constraints) as I for one DETEST the current speed of storage on computers at the moment (if only it expanded as quick as CPU and video cards)
Anyhow - here is my query.
Can anyone suggest to me _further_ ways to optomise my speed with the below.
IBM 75GXP 30gb hdd (c
Maxtor 60gb 5400rpm (d
Windows will be on C:
Program files on D: including all things in the "Startup" menu (windows/system dll's and interface will be loading along with virus scan - motherboard monitor, etc etc - off of C: and D: - i think this could be a nice speedup to my boot time)
I normally run a 10000kb smartdrive from dos (i still find this speeds things up to be honest) but with a /X command to stop write behinds being potentially missed in a crash)
Hard disks will be one partition only! (sorry i hate partitions) and 8kb clusters /z:16 (4 is too slow, bigger than 8 = too much space)
250mb perm swap - norton speed disk optomised. (D
Each disk will be on it's own ATA 33 interface. ****(read lower on this)****
DMA obviously enabled - Win98SE with BH6 1.02 board (SS bios)
"Network Server" file mode selected within control panel - rather than desktop machine
That's about all the optomisations I know, can anyone else suggest anything?
**** note on ATA 33, please do not dispute this, in this thread - I realise it's a SLIGHT limitation, however it can not be changed - please suggest other methods of speeding up)
and here's why ATA 33 wont restrict me
in benchmarks where the hard disk is the ONLY THING reading - and reading a SEQUENTIAL file from the hard disk - then ATA 33 will cut up to 6mb a second from my reads.
HOWEVER in "real world" instances- how often will I be actually noticing this when I'm USING the computer and the heads are moving around the disk, as well as the CPU processing the data, rather than just reading it and benchmarking it, or sending it through my network card-
I think unless I opt for raid ATA 33 is FINE by todays standards and real world executing of programs etc - with a D: swap file I'll notice VERY little slow down
Either way I dont wish to debate this (please?) - so any other speedup suggestions from people who are even more into the HDD optomisation scene please let me know.
Actually just to stop any "whingers" - and to proove I know what I mena - the ONLY time I feel I can truely notice the slowdown from ATA 33 will be copying from the C: to D: directly on large files...... (and i mean 33mb a second max - i really dont care, it's devestatingly fast)
by the way the CPU in this box is a Celeron 566 @ 870mhz or 952 (will have to wait and see) but 34mhz FSB on the hdd's shouldnt kill it at 870mhz, and I figure this cpu is good enough to process 33mb a second (at times?) no?
