Hello all -
Here is my system configuration:
Windows XP SP3
Dell Vostro 200
Intel Core2 Duo E4600 @ 2.40GHz
2GB RAM
Internal System Disk (New) WDC WD2001FASS-00W2B0
Integrated Graphics & Audio
Virtual Memory (pagefile) initial 2GB, max 4GB
The system is about two and a half years old. It came with this internal system hard drive:
WD5000AAKS (500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive 7200RPM, 16MB Cache)
I kept the system as clean as possible with regular defragging and updated anti-virus and anti-malware.
The old WD5000AAKS internal drive was very fast for interactive performance. For example, I could click on an icon to clear the Internet Explorer cache (with the cache empty) and the process would run so quickly that the display window wouldn’t even show up on the screen. If I clicked the ‘clear IE cache’ icon four times very quickly, I would see the display window for the last two processes for a fraction of a second on the screen.
(I realize this is not any sort of official benchmark, but it is a very good example of the performance I was used to.)
Unfortunately the drive began to run very slowly. Some engineering jobs that used to take 3 minutes to run were taking 30 minutes. I suspected the disk and ran CHKDSK from within Windows with the fix/repair options checked, and it took 3 days 5 hours to complete. It showed 17GB worth of bad clusters on the 500GB disk.
I ordered the 2TB Caviar Black and it arrived a day and a half later. I used my Windows XP installation disk to format the new drive and install the operating system on it. I used Windows Update to bring XP fully up to date. I have scanned with anti-virus and anti-malware and the installation is clean. I have defragged the installation once. I tried running both the Acronis and Paragon WD Align programs but both say that the Caviar Black drive does not support advanced formatting (which appears to be the case, based on what I’ve read in this forum).
I cannot find a driver for the WD2001FASS on the Western Digital website; maybe I’m not looking in the right place. The operating system is using a Microsoft driver version 5.1.2535.0, dated 7/1/2001 (!!). That is so old I’m hoping it is the problem!
THIS IS THE ISSUE: The “interactive performance” of the new Caviar Black drive is VERY slow, compared to what I was used to with the old 500GB WD5000AAKS system drive. For example, the ‘clear IE cache’ icon (with the cache empty) now shows the display window on the screen for about 2 to 3 seconds. This is probably 10 to 20 times slower than with the prior drive.
Here are the CrystalDiskMark results for the new WD2001FASS Caviar Black internal system drive with 1000MB and 100MB test sizes:
I honestly don’t know if these are slow or about right for the WD2001FASS with my system configuration. The “sustained performance” during engineering jobs seems about what it was–the 3 minutes runs are back to 3 minutes. (I thought there would be more improvement, because much of the run is waiting on disk.) But, again, the main issue is the “interactive performance”, which seems very poor.
I can live with the loud seeking and the drive running hotter than some others. I want the great performance that was the reason I bought this drive.
I’m at a loss of what to try next, other than the “right” driver. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thank you in advance.
(edit: add pagefile size, correct a typo)