Dying/Failing Old HDD?
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From: ANTant on 30 Dec 2009 15:17 >>> Best check free memory. I checked already. However, the system only has 1 GB of RAM, but I don't recall it being that slow. > >>> Other possible causes: >>> - Spyware/malware. > >> Clean system. > >>> - Updated applications needing more resources >>> or haveing (new) memory leaks. >>> - A CPU with thermal throtheling and an unmaintained >>> cooling system (dust, fan with lubrication problems) > >> Could be. How can I check to see how fast CPU is going at max? > > Everest can tell you. http://pastie.org/761689 for the results. >> It's old. :) > >>> - Disk getting fuller and accesses more distributed (longer seeks) and maybe also more in the slower areas towards >>> the end of the disk. > >> Isn't defrag supposed to fix that? > > Yes. OK, I tried a few and don't see much improvements. Even defragged my pagefile. >>> If it is not that, maybe try to assess what is actually getting slower: Access time or throughput and to what degree. > >> Any good benchmark tools? > > Real work is best, but you need to have done and recorded that when > it was a new XP install to see if it really has degraded over time or > whether thats just an illusion because you also use other more modern > faster systems as well and so its just an illusion that it has go slower. > > If none of that shows up anything useful, I'd image the system, > do a completely clean XP install on a freshly formatted hard > drive and compare real world benchmarks on those two configs. > You do sometimes see XP installs degrade over time and > end up measurably slower than a clean install. Or time for a new system. :D -- "We are anthill men upon an anthill world." --Ray Bradbury /\___/\ / /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site) | |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net \ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail. ( )
From: ANTant on 30 Dec 2009 15:26 In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa(a)gmail.com> wrote: > ANTant(a)zimage.com wrote: >> In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Franc Zabkar >> <fzabkar(a)iinternode.on.net> wrote: >>>> On 12/29/2009 9:00 PM PT, Franc Zabkar typed: >>> >>>>>> ... is getting slower and slower these days. >>>>> >>>>> Check whether it has been downgraded from DMA mode to PIO. >>>> >>>> Would that be in XP Pro. SP2's Device Manager? >> >> Found them: >> >> Primary IDE Channel #1: >> Device 0: Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5 >> Device 1: Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable >> >> Primary IDE Channel #1: >> Device 0: Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 2 >> Device 1: Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable > > Presumably that is a typo and the second one is the secondary channel. http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/8297/screenshotl.gif for screen shots. >> I assume those are correct. > > Yes, it hasnt dropped into PIO mode. Good then. >> I have one DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive and that Maxtor HDD. > > Looks like the slowdown is an illusion or the XP install has degraded > over time if Everest shows the cpu is running at full speed. Yeah. http://pastie.org/761689 ... No idea if that is correct. -- "We are anthill men upon an anthill world." --Ray Bradbury /\___/\ / /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site) | |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net \ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail. ( )
From: Christian Franke on 30 Dec 2009 15:35 Arno wrote: > Franc Zabkar<...> wrote: > >> 9 Power_On_Minutes 0x0032 141 141 000 Old_age Always >> - 614h+43m > >> Hmmm, you have an old generation HDD that has run for only 614 hours >> and has been power cycled only 65 times ??? > > I think smartctl has some interpretation problems with attribute 9 > for some disks. I have a notebook disks (Samsung 160JI), that > tells me 2562261 "hours" in attribute 9, where it should say > "half minutes". > Samsung M series was missing in smartmontools drive database, should be fixed now. The problem is that SMART attributes and especially the raw values are not standardized at all. The Power_On_??? raw value interpretations may differ even between different firmware releases for the same drive model. Christian
From: Arno on 30 Dec 2009 18:34 Ant <ant(a)zimage.comant> wrote: >> I see thios thing has only been restarted 72 times in 5 years. >> Maybe you have a memory leak in the OS or some application? >> Best check free memory. > I checked already. >> Other possible causes: >> - Spyware/malware. > Clean system. >> - Updated applications needing more resources >> or haveing (new) memory leaks. >> - A CPU with thermal throtheling and an unmaintained >> cooling system (dust, fan with lubrication problems) > Could be. How can I check to see how fast CPU is going at max? It's old. :) Hmm. There are some tools that can detect thermal throteling, but I have no idea what they are. Maybe try to get the CPU temperature with something like speedfan and see whether it is suspicuously high. >> - Disk getting fuller and accesses more distributed (longer seeks) >> and maybe also more in the slower areas towards the end of the >> disk. > Isn't defrag supposed to fix that? That is a fundamental problem which cannot be fixed. A seek over more tracks just needs longer time, so a fuller disk is typically a bit slower. >> If it is not that, maybe try to assess what is actually >> getting slower: Access time or throughput and to what degree. > Any good benchmark tools? There is HDBench by the german computer ,agazine ct. I have not looked at it in some years though. Arno -- Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: arno(a)wagner.name GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F ---- Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans
From: Arno on 30 Dec 2009 18:50
Christian Franke <Christian.Franke(a)t-online.de> wrote: > Arno wrote: >> Franc Zabkar<...> wrote: >> >>> 9 Power_On_Minutes 0x0032 141 141 000 Old_age Always >>> - 614h+43m >> >>> Hmmm, you have an old generation HDD that has run for only 614 hours >>> and has been power cycled only 65 times ??? >> >> I think smartctl has some interpretation problems with attribute 9 >> for some disks. I have a notebook disks (Samsung 160JI), that >> tells me 2562261 "hours" in attribute 9, where it should say >> "half minutes". >> > Samsung M series was missing in smartmontools drive database, should be > fixed now. > The problem is that SMART attributes and especially the raw values are > not standardized at all. The Power_On_??? raw value interpretations may > differ even between different firmware releases for the same drive model. > Christian Pretty much what I expected. Thanks for all the work going into the database fixing hwat should have been done right in the first place. Arno -- Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: arno(a)wagner.name GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F ---- Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans |