WD20EARS-00MVWB0 write speed 20mb/s on windows7

Hey,

Nice to see that there is a community for WD hdds. It’s my first WD - hope it wont be last.

I pluged WD GP to sata port, started Windows7, went to storage manager > formated there a 1 partition - ntfs, 4kb alocation sector. Im using all my hdd with AHCI Intel 5Series/3400 chipset controler - i updated it

(btw the Intel Rapid Storage Technology version 10 still report hdd that is using 512b sectors O_o)

I dont have any problems, didnt play with LCC problem or anything. I just started to filling hdd with data from my hdd to see if I will get any errors (i didnt), but I got lack in performance - i read alot of similar topic here, but alot of them were about older model EADS.

When im writing to disk i get 120-100 mb/s (when cache aint full from what i read), then 60-80mb/s but then the transfer rate drop to 20-25mb/s, i know its GP but 25mb/s dont seems right. I read topic about someone that have same problem, and clam that when formated with XP then used Align Tool the performance is back, curently im ZEROing the HDD (5h till end), so im looking for solution at Win7. I got Cygwin so i can use Linux tools too. Align tools says it align but in performance I dont see it.

Thanks for replay

Short Version:

  • hdd formated with windows7

  • no errors

  • align tool claim that hdd is align ok

  • write speed drop to 20-25mb/s

  • looking for good way to creat partition so I can get right write speed

Try formatting with Allocation Unit Size of 64K

why 64k? and Full Format or Quick Format? (4:30h till finishe of ZEROing)

By all means please continue what you were doing. I have noticed a significant performance gain when a large drive partitioned and formatted with 32K or 64K rather than default 4K in real life applications. But it waste lot of disk space if you happened to have large amount of very small files such as 1 to 10Kb.

“Personally” I stick to quick formatting if I don’t suspect any bad sectors on a drive. Some may argue as this is a bad practice but I never had any problem since Win95 days. But I managed ruin perfectly working HDD’s by low level formatting in 1980s.

How can i check from what sector the partition started ? In Windows7

Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re referring to…

I readed that partition should start at sector at is divine by 4 or 8. XP make partition start at 63. There’s alot of info about it in LINUX thread here. Just wanted to check if thats not the problem

The Zero-ing is geting longer and longer…3:30 h passed still tells that more than 3h more will be doing it.

After that, i should go to windows7, storage manager, make partition ntfs, 32/64kb per alocation, quick format - and check then ?

“I readed that partition should start at sector at is divine by 4 or 8. XP make partition start at 63. There’s alot of info about it in LINUX thread here. Just wanted to check if thats not the problem”

I don’t understand …

"The Zero-ing is geting longer and longer…3:30 h passed still tells that more than 3h more will be doing it.

After that, i should go to windows7, storage manager, make partition ntfs, 32/64kb per alocation, quick format - and check then ?"

Some disk repair apps take 10hr to cover 1TB. Make sure your drive is not getting over heated.

For the last part… Disk Manager> delete petition(s) and create new partition and quick format 32 or 64K .

Mabkay wrote:

“I readed that partition should start at sector at is divine by 4 or 8. XP make partition start at 63. There’s alot of info about it in LINUX thread here. Just wanted to check if thats not the problem”

I don’t understand …

 

here: http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/Problem-with-WD-Advanced-Format-drive-in-LINUX-WD15EARS/m-p/6395/highlight/true#M318 (3th post)

 

You can set START sector and END one. like this:

(parted) mkpartPartition name? ?File system type? [ext2]?Start? 64End? -1Warning: You requested a partition from 64s to 2930277167s.The closest location we can manage is 64s to 2930277134s.Is this still acceptable to you?Yes/No? Yes

I cancel ZEROing hdd in 60% (3h left) total of 7-8h waiting.

Partition made in Win7 x64

NTFS

16k (i will store only big files, but if i will have little like 1-3mb i set 16 not 64k)

quick format

Oh and I removed Intel Rapid Storage Technology, and left drivers in version 9.6.0.1014 (03/03/2010) for Interl Series5/3400 AHCI controler.

Dont know which one helped, but now on start (i will test tommarow) i get 120, then drop to 60-80mb/s depend on from which driver im reading the data that im writing to WD.

// will be back with more test tommarow

Is it normal for this drive that when writing to it i get 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 etc. MB/s ? it’s fall and rise. Then i get stady 70, then stedy 80 then even 90, then drop to 70 … etc

I asum that driver dont go to “sleep” or “power safe” mode when im writing to it? - but still i see that write speed rise (its better to have 30-90mb/s rater than all the time 30mb/s)

Thought pointing out few things…

I referred to small files of 1 to 10KB files not 1 to 10MB files. Second you have used 16K instead of 64K unit allocation size. You should see little more improvement if you had used 64K instead of 16K. Thirdly, your transfer speed seems to be reasonable and varying speed is not due to power saving activities.

You might know already, HDD can read faster but they are slower on writing. When you copy a file(s), initially host drive copies files to you RAM at very high speed for caching then the receiver starts wring the file(s) from RAM at slower speed. This is a bottle neck on all HDD based systems. At this point you’ll notice speed drop and eventually reach to the sustained transfer speed of that particular drive.

And transfer speed largely vary on the type of file you are copying. If it is a large single file, you’ll see higher speed where large amount of small file would bring down speed to unbelievable rates.

Yeah i know that i pick 16 isted of 64kb :stuck_out_tongue: I usly store files 100mb-2gb per file. but sometimes 1mb :slight_smile: so that why i pick that 16k.

I know that write speed is lower than read speed, but 20mb/s write aint proper speed for this hdd.

I think the main bottleneck (?!) was the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application/drivers - they even report hdd as 512b not 4kb one… even in version 10.0

Thanks again for helping