Slow Writing/Copying to 1TB Drive

[fire2havoc]

I installed a 1TB Western Digital EADS today and decided to copy some files to it.

However, when I start copying them, the speed is about 2-4mb/s and often below 1mb/s. At one point, I briefly got speeds of 90mb/s but then it just dropped down to 2mb/s.

The drive is running in UDMA 5 mode and I enabled Advanced Performance in Vista. I also disabled indexing on all the drives. What could be causing this problem? How can I speed up the drive?

 

[techmanc]

D/L and run HD Tune and post results here.

 

[fire2havoc]

Originally posted by: techmanc
D/L and run HD Tune and post results here.

The drive is completely empty so there's nothing to read.

When I try the write test, it says that writing is disabled.


I ran a 32mb file benchmark test and here's the result:

1TB Benchmark

Here is the same 32mb benchmark on my other 750GB WD drive:

Benchmark 750GB


As you can see, it doesn't even complete the benchmark all the way...not to mention that it's really slow.

 

[techmanc]

Can you give more information on the drive? Is it new? Has it been in any other system? Any info on where and why it when it went slow? Did you look at the drives health in HD Tune?

 

[fire2havoc]

Originally posted by: techmanc
Can you give more information on the drive? Is it new? Has it been in any other system? Any info on where and why it when it went slow? Did you look at the drives health in HD Tune?

Brand new drive. It has been on for no more than 3 days and has not been in any other system.

UPS just delivered my RMA replacement...

 

[techmanc]

Cool that hopefully will do the trick.

 

[fire2havoc]

Originally posted by: techmanc
Cool that hopefully will do the trick.

Do you think I should do full format or quick format?

This is my third replacement...I'm pretty tired of this ordeal.

 

[techmanc]

Quick format has always been good for me I have 4 1.5tb 2 750gb and 2 500gb drive all QF.

 

[taltamir]

when getting a brand new drive:
1. do a FULL format
2. COPY (don't move!) a bunch of files to it (fill it up)... let it spin for at LEAST 24 hours.. (48 hours are generally good enough).
3. Attempt to read the files you copied to it...

if the drive did not break then it will probably last a while... but my experience is that 1/10 drives fail by that point (usually while copying all the data to it to fill it up).
Its called breaking in the drive, and it is highly recommended.
You can also use a "burn in" mode in certain programs, like everest, to achieve the same result.

 

[taltamir]

However, when I start copying them, the speed is about 2-4mb/s and often below 1mb/s. At one point, I briefly got speeds of 90mb/s but then it just dropped down to 2mb/s.

The drive is running in UDMA 5 mode and I enabled Advanced Performance in Vista. I also disabled indexing on all the drives. What could be causing this problem? How can I speed up the drive?

There is no reason to disable indexing, and you should NOT enable advanced performance, its not really advanced, only VERY specific applications will "benefit" from it, and you risk loosing data (it basically reenables a bug that they fixed in vista).

What kind of files are you copying over to that drive? is it a single large file, or many small files? if it is a single large file then it should not drop that low... but a lot of VERY small files might take a while

 

[fire2havoc]

Originally posted by: taltamir

However, when I start copying them, the speed is about 2-4mb/s and often below 1mb/s. At one point, I briefly got speeds of 90mb/s but then it just dropped down to 2mb/s.

The drive is running in UDMA 5 mode and I enabled Advanced Performance in Vista. I also disabled indexing on all the drives. What could be causing this problem? How can I speed up the drive?

There is no reason to disable indexing, and you should NOT enable advanced performance, its not really advanced, only VERY specific applications will "benefit" from it, and you risk loosing data (it basically reenables a bug that they fixed in vista).

What kind of files are you copying over to that drive? is it a single large file, or many small files? if it is a single large file then it should not drop that low... but a lot of VERY small files might take a while

I'm copying large files and many smaller files (2-20mb). Same result - 2.0mb/s on average...sometimes less.

Do I really need to do the full format? I gladly would but last time I did full in Vista, it took 7 hours to get to 8%. I'm not sure if this is a problem with the OS or the drive itself, but I'd prefer to start using it as soon as possible.

 

[techmanc]

I hate when people ask me about full or quick format in forums as there will always be a difference of option. In the old days when drives were prone to disk errors and had less error checking a full format was good to do. I have only done quick formats for the last 6 yrs and no failures other than the normal the whole hard drive type of failures.

 

[techmanc]

So that your complete system in your sig? the other drives work ok? have tried a different SATA port for the slow drive? Any problem listed in event viewer - custom view - administrative events?

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: taltamir
when getting a brand new drive:
1. do a FULL format
2. COPY (don't move!) a bunch of files to it (fill it up)... let it spin for at LEAST 24 hours.. (48 hours are generally good enough).
3. Attempt to read the files you copied to it...

if the drive did not break then it will probably last a while... but my experience is that 1/10 drives fail by that point (usually while copying all the data to it to fill it up).
Its called breaking in the drive, and it is highly recommended.
You can also use a "burn in" mode in certain programs, like everest, to achieve the same result.

QFT.

Originally posted by: fire2havoc
Do I really need to do the full format? I gladly would but last time I did full in Vista, it took 7 hours to get to 8%. I'm not sure if this is a problem with the OS or the drive itself, but I'd prefer to start using it as soon as possible.

You don't really need to do anything, however, as taltamir says, it is best to do full formats, especially on big HDs. How the heck else are you going to test the drive out?
I would also add, that I have a md5 checksum from the files I copied to the new HD, so once it is copied, I can compare the checksum, to make sure the data is fine.

It shouldn't take 7 hours, it should be around 3 1/2 hours for 1TB drives.

If it is taking that long for you, then something is wrong with your cables / psu / HD / BIOS setting or system, like faulty drivers or something.

 

[fire2havoc]

I understand that full format is best.

I received my first 1TB and tried to do full format in XP. It went to 99% and then said "unsuccessful." I thought it was bad because it gave bad sector errors when writing zeroes so I RMA'ed it and got the second one. I tried formatting it in Vista (assuming it was a bad install of XP that was causing the initial problems) and it took 7 hours to get to 8%. I don't want this to repeat with the 3rd drive. The quick format works fine, which is why I'm more tempted to opt for that option.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: fire2havoc
I understand that full format is best.

I received my first 1TB and tried to do full format in XP. It went to 99% and then said "unsuccessful." I thought it was bad because it gave bad sector errors when writing zeroes so I RMA'ed it and got the second one. I tried formatting it in Vista (assuming it was a bad install of XP that was causing the initial problems) and it took 7 hours to get to 8%. I don't want this to repeat with the 3rd drive. The quick format works fine, which is why I'm more tempted to opt for that option.

Of course the quick format works fine, it only writes to a few sectors! But the HD (or cable or...) is NOT fine.

I would do more trouble shooting, new cables, different machine, and see just what is going on.
When they shipped the drive back, was it packed well? Did the box have visible damage?

 

[fire2havoc]

I'm formatting (full) the RMA drive right now. Hopefully no issues will show up. Although I'm worried that there is something wrong with my full format in Vista because it takes an unusually long time.

If anything, is it safe to cancel formatting before it is complete (in the middle of a format) and do a quick format instead?

Also: should I do full format in Disk Management or another program?

 

[fire2havoc]

Just installed and formatted the new replacement drive...same story. Slow copy speeds of 2-3mb/s. I assume it's now a problem with my OS (or a setting in OS) because I switched the cables and SATA ports and nothing helps. The other drives are working fine.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: fire2havoc
I understand that full format is best.

I received my first 1TB and tried to do full format in XP. It went to 99% and then said "unsuccessful." I thought it was bad because it gave bad sector errors when writing zeroes so I RMA'ed it and got the second one. I tried formatting it in Vista (assuming it was a bad install of XP that was causing the initial problems) and it took 7 hours to get to 8%. I don't want this to repeat with the 3rd drive. The quick format works fine, which is why I'm more tempted to opt for that option.

No, actually you clearly DON'T understand.

...
"i tested my car, and a tire exploded, I got a replacement, and when I tested it the engine caught on fire... I don't want to keep on replacing cars so I am not going to test the third one I get"

Does this make any sense to you? No? it shouldn't...

The whole PURPOSE of breaking in the drive is to BREAK IT!
If you broke two already during a mere full format, you better damn make sure you try your hardest to break the third replacement they give you, only if it does NOT break should you put data on it... because if you skip the testing and it is rickety, it WILL simply break a little later, costing you precious data.

 

[techmanc]

Have you called WD tech support after all its a warrantied drive?

 

[Aeridyne]

Dude, it's clear that your mobo or something else in your system simply hates that model of hard drive, it happens. Get a different one and call it a day.

 

[Aeridyne]

Dude, it's clear that your mobo or something else in your system simply hates that model of hard drive, do you honestly think you got 3 bad drives in a row? Um... no, you didn't, it just doesn't work with your system, the RMAs were unnecessary. Update your bios maybe that will help. Try a different Sata port? things like that, I have yet to get a drive that doesn't work out of the box except for some clunkers in dell laptops at work. Its rare but sometimes a piece of hardware simply won't work with a system, I've run in to it many times, swap it out...

*sorry for the double post*

 

[VaultDweller]

Is the drive being installed in the system in your sig?

 

[taltamir]

Dude, it's clear that your mobo or something else in your system simply hates that model of hard drive, do you honestly think you got 3 bad drives in a row?

It has happened before... the chances are very low, but someone gotta have it...

but yes it is not very likely.

 

[fire2havoc]

I found out what the problem is.

I currently have 3 drives installed:

500GB Seagate
750GB WD
1TB WD

The 1TB is very very slow when the WD 750GB is plugged in, but works just fine when the 750GB is unplugged. This doesn't bother me because I'm getting rid of the 750GB, but I need to transfer about 550GB of data from it to the 1TB and that might take a while...