Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!!

plainman007 · 02-19-2009, 03:31 PM

Oh god. Im having a really bad time this month. I have a system with 3 x 250gb HDDs. I just had 1 of those 250gb HDD drive crash and have sent it in for replacement. I decided to buy a new extra drive at least to have as a backup drive. Now this is a Seagate 500GB sata (Model-ST3500320AS) With real high end specs etc. 32 mb buffer. The damn thing is slower than a tortoise. Took 30 minutes to copy a 3gb file from 1 of my 250gb drives onto it. The 250 gb drives are blazingly faster in comparision. Is something wrong. My MB is a Intel DG33. I tested the drive using HD Tune and it shows 3.5 mbps as the data transfer speed. the other drives are making 78 mbps and so on. Ive really been spedning cash like hell to get my system back and all ive been facing is disaster after disaster. Can someone tell me what to do. Any firmware updations or something ?

**ctal** · 02-19-2009, 04:36 PM

Well, the good news is that that is so badly out of whack that it has to be something simple. Look on the "info" tab of HD Tune and make sure that it is set to run in UDMA mode 5 or higher. Then go into the bios setup and look through all of the settings related to that drive. See if they are set similarly to the settings for the other drives. If everything looks ok there look at the device manager settings for that drive and for the controller it is on. Something must be set wrong. Maybe it's been set to run in UDMA mode 2, or PIO mode, or something like that.

HTH,
-- Al

zsaz1029 · 02-19-2009, 05:04 PM

Maybe this is what's going on?

plainman007 · 02-19-2009, 05:19 PM

Hi Ctal,

Was actually hoping ud' catch this thread. I rebooted twice and went into BIOS. There were'nt any specific settings i could choose for this drive. But i highlighted it and i tried disabling and re-enabling some of the features like SMART and then IDE mode. Then booted up and the drive ran considerably faster. Like its supposed to. I ran HDTune and it reported the following...

Benchmark Transfer Rate = Min 48 MB/sec, Max 110.8 MB/sec, Average 84.6 MB/sec....Access Time = 14.5 Ms. Burst Rate = 164 MB/sec. CPU Usage 1.9%.

In the Info Panel it reports buffer as n/a ???? This is puzzling me as i wanted to confirm on the 32 MB Buffer.

For as the drive mode it says Supported - UDMA MODE 6 (Ultra ATA/133)
Active - UDMA MODE 5 (Ultra ATA/100)....Can i get it to work in the Supported Mode ?

What do you think of these results ? Are they in line with the way this drive is touted ?

The reported results all seem better than my 250gb drives now. Only need to know the buffer report and change the mode i guess.

Thanks

**ctal** · 02-19-2009, 07:22 PM

Much better! In fact, that's about as good as it gets for that kind of drive, and I wouldn't worry about it any further.

Sometimes HD Tune is unable to read some or all of the configuration information, depending on mobo, chipset, driver software, etc. The buffer size is what it is, and corresponds to the part number of the drive.

UDMA modes above 5 have always been a source of confusion, with 5 being reported when 6 or 7 or whatever are supposedly supported. I don't remember the exact explanation of it all, but I do recall that there is no need to do anything about it. My drives report similarly.

Regards,
-- Al

plainman007 · 02-20-2009, 01:29 AM

Yes i guess this is it. Ive primarily put this in only as a backup solution. Because my total current workstation storage is 3 x 250gb. So i will need at least a 500gb drive to back up the system internally and regularly. Thats the reason i bought this. To primarily back up my footage and render drives. The OS drive is very tiny in data footprint. Its just 12gb after the os and applications are loaded.

This morning i did the ERROR SCAN from HDTune (not quick scan) and it reported 1 damaged block in red. Is this serious and permanant damage or can it be recitified ? Would Norton Disk Doctor that came on my NG9 disk to scan and recover bad sectors etc help ?

**ctal** · 02-20-2009, 09:32 AM

That's not a good sign. But I believe that when HD Tune accessed that sector, and the error resulted, the drive itself would have mapped it as "do not use." The question would be if it is an indication that additional bad sectors will continue to appear.

Go to the "health" page on HD Tune, and in the "current" column write down what the count is for "reallocated sector count." Re-check that from time to time, and if it goes down (lower = bad; higher = good) then I'd suggest returning the drive under warranty.

BTW, you'll probably see "spin retry count" highlighted in yellow. Don't worry about that; that seems to be a quirk of HD Tune with Seagate drives.

Regards,
-- Al

plainman007 · 02-20-2009, 11:02 AM

Hi, Ok ill do as you suggest and watch those levels. I have 2 yellow highlighted items in my health panel in HDtune. Is that a bad sign. I just cant remember which 2 items as they have such confusing names. But i cud look it up and let you know which ones. But does 2 yellows mean trouble ?

**ctal** · 02-20-2009, 12:10 PM

Depends on what it is. On all of the Seagate drives I've had, the only one that has shown yellow is the spin retry count, which seems to always show yellow for Seagates and is not a concern.

If the other one turns out to be the reallocated sector count, as I said just re-check it every day or so and if it goes down further, return the drive.

Regards,
-- Al

plainman007 · 02-20-2009, 12:42 PM

Will do that and keep an eye on the reallocation. Are you using the same kind of drive ? 500 Gb Model ST3500320AS ?

Thanks

**ctal** · 02-20-2009, 01:14 PM

No. I have a somewhat older 400gB model ST3400832A. I think all of my other drives are currently WD, although I've had other Seagates in the last few years which also gave the yellow indication for spin retry count.

Regards,
-- Al

Alegria · 02-21-2009, 01:50 AM

I think this is too slow for a 500GB Seagate. Compare this with my older 320GB Seagate here. Something is definitely wrong with your drive when it does not perform like it should in real life applications!

Edit: I cared to reread your post above, transfer speed looks about normal, still think that its not right compared to my old drive with 16MB buffer.

plainman007 · 02-21-2009, 06:29 AM

Alegria > I saw your attached pic. The values reported on my panel are higher to those. Reread the results ive posted. My transfer rate is about 110 Mbps as opposed to your result of 41, 79, and 66 Mbps. How come your saying its pretty ok i dont understand. Its better than ok in comparision. I guess thats where the 32mb buffer figures. I still havent even checked if the jumper at the back is removed to get full 3gb/s performance. Ill open up the system again tonight to check and report on that. But the awful thing is the bad block. That too on a new drive.

plainman007 · 02-22-2009, 12:04 AM

Ctal > Would the Seagate tools help rectify a bad block. I tried windows check disk tools to correct the bad sectors but the test completed and the bad block is still there when HD Tune checks, but windows checkdisk and fix bad sectors didnt report anything wrong. Is a bad block a permanant damage or can it be rectified with some software utility ?

Also i wanted to tell you that the HD tune quick scan doesnt show the bad block ? ???

Whats the difference between a bad block and a bad sector ? Are they both the same ?

**ctal** · 02-22-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainman007

Would the Seagate tools help rectify a bad block. I tried windows check disk tools to correct the bad sectors but the test completed and the bad block is still there when HD Tune checks, but windows checkdisk and fix bad sectors didnt report anything wrong. Is a bad block a permanant damage or can it be rectified with some software utility ?

I believe it is permanent damage, but that it will do no harm as long as it doesn't continue to get worse (meaning that other sectors continue to develop problems). Modern hard drives "remap" bad sectors, which prevents the software (including Windows) from using them. Bottom line: don't worry about it, unless the "reallocated sector count" gets worse, or other symptoms appear. Or, alternatively (and its your call at this point), return the drive under warranty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainman007

Whats the difference between a bad block and a bad sector ? Are they both the same ?

A block would be a group of many sectors, I believe. HD Tune shows the size of what it considers to be a block, right under the word "legend" on the error scan window. For instance, on my 400gB drive it shows that one block = 152mB. I don't think that "block" has any particular meaning with respect to the drive itself, it's just something defined by the program.

Regards,
-- Al

02-19-2009, 03:31 PM	#1
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Oh god. Im having a really bad time this month. I have a system with 3 x 250gb HDDs. I just had 1 of those 250gb HDD drive crash and have sent it in for replacement. I decided to buy a new extra drive at least to have as a backup drive. Now this is a Seagate 500GB sata (Model-ST3500320AS) With real high end specs etc. 32 mb buffer. The damn thing is slower than a tortoise. Took 30 minutes to copy a 3gb file from 1 of my 250gb drives onto it. The 250 gb drives are blazingly faster in comparision. Is something wrong. My MB is a Intel DG33. I tested the drive using HD Tune and it shows 3.5 mbps as the data transfer speed. the other drives are making 78 mbps and so on. Ive really been spedning cash like hell to get my system back and all ive been facing is disaster after disaster. Can someone tell me what to do. Any firmware updations or something ?
(Online)

02-19-2009, 04:36 PM	#2
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,877	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Well, the good news is that that is so badly out of whack that it has to be something simple. Look on the "info" tab of HD Tune and make sure that it is set to run in UDMA mode 5 or higher. Then go into the bios setup and look through all of the settings related to that drive. See if they are set similarly to the settings for the other drives. If everything looks ok there look at the device manager settings for that drive and for the controller it is on. Something must be set wrong. Maybe it's been set to run in UDMA mode 2, or PIO mode, or something like that. HTH, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
(Offline)

02-19-2009, 05:04 PM	#3
zsaz1029 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 2,200	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Maybe this is what's going on? __________________ Spaz ----- ----- "A scar is never the same as good flesh, but it stops the bleeding." -- FitzChivalry Farseer (Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb) "Only my pain is more silent than my anger." -- Amber (The Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb) -----
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02-19-2009, 05:19 PM	#4
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Hi Ctal, Was actually hoping ud' catch this thread. I rebooted twice and went into BIOS. There were'nt any specific settings i could choose for this drive. But i highlighted it and i tried disabling and re-enabling some of the features like SMART and then IDE mode. Then booted up and the drive ran considerably faster. Like its supposed to. I ran HDTune and it reported the following... Benchmark Transfer Rate = Min 48 MB/sec, Max 110.8 MB/sec, Average 84.6 MB/sec....Access Time = 14.5 Ms. Burst Rate = 164 MB/sec. CPU Usage 1.9%. In the Info Panel it reports buffer as n/a ???? This is puzzling me as i wanted to confirm on the 32 MB Buffer. For as the drive mode it says Supported - UDMA MODE 6 (Ultra ATA/133) Active - UDMA MODE 5 (Ultra ATA/100)....Can i get it to work in the Supported Mode ? What do you think of these results ? Are they in line with the way this drive is touted ? The reported results all seem better than my 250gb drives now. Only need to know the buffer report and change the mode i guess. Thanks Last edited by plainman007; 02-19-2009 at 05:27 PM..
(Online)

02-19-2009, 07:22 PM	#5
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,877	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Much better! In fact, that's about as good as it gets for that kind of drive, and I wouldn't worry about it any further. Sometimes HD Tune is unable to read some or all of the configuration information, depending on mobo, chipset, driver software, etc. The buffer size is what it is, and corresponds to the part number of the drive. UDMA modes above 5 have always been a source of confusion, with 5 being reported when 6 or 7 or whatever are supposedly supported. I don't remember the exact explanation of it all, but I do recall that there is no need to do anything about it. My drives report similarly. Regards, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
(Offline)

02-20-2009, 01:29 AM	#6
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Yes i guess this is it. Ive primarily put this in only as a backup solution. Because my total current workstation storage is 3 x 250gb. So i will need at least a 500gb drive to back up the system internally and regularly. Thats the reason i bought this. To primarily back up my footage and render drives. The OS drive is very tiny in data footprint. Its just 12gb after the os and applications are loaded. This morning i did the ERROR SCAN from HDTune (not quick scan) and it reported 1 damaged block in red. Is this serious and permanant damage or can it be recitified ? Would Norton Disk Doctor that came on my NG9 disk to scan and recover bad sectors etc help ?
(Online)

02-20-2009, 09:32 AM	#7
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,877	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! That's not a good sign. But I believe that when HD Tune accessed that sector, and the error resulted, the drive itself would have mapped it as "do not use." The question would be if it is an indication that additional bad sectors will continue to appear. Go to the "health" page on HD Tune, and in the "current" column write down what the count is for "reallocated sector count." Re-check that from time to time, and if it goes down (lower = bad; higher = good) then I'd suggest returning the drive under warranty. BTW, you'll probably see "spin retry count" highlighted in yellow. Don't worry about that; that seems to be a quirk of HD Tune with Seagate drives. Regards, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
(Offline)

02-20-2009, 11:02 AM	#8
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Hi, Ok ill do as you suggest and watch those levels. I have 2 yellow highlighted items in my health panel in HDtune. Is that a bad sign. I just cant remember which 2 items as they have such confusing names. But i cud look it up and let you know which ones. But does 2 yellows mean trouble ?
(Online)

02-20-2009, 12:10 PM	#9
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,877	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Depends on what it is. On all of the Seagate drives I've had, the only one that has shown yellow is the spin retry count, which seems to always show yellow for Seagates and is not a concern. If the other one turns out to be the reallocated sector count, as I said just re-check it every day or so and if it goes down further, return the drive. Regards, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
(Offline)

02-20-2009, 12:42 PM	#10
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Will do that and keep an eye on the reallocation. Are you using the same kind of drive ? 500 Gb Model ST3500320AS ? Thanks
(Online)

02-20-2009, 01:14 PM	#11
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,877	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! No. I have a somewhat older 400gB model ST3400832A. I think all of my other drives are currently WD, although I've had other Seagates in the last few years which also gave the yellow indication for spin retry count. Regards, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
(Offline)

02-21-2009, 06:29 AM	#13
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Alegria > I saw your attached pic. The values reported on my panel are higher to those. Reread the results ive posted. My transfer rate is about 110 Mbps as opposed to your result of 41, 79, and 66 Mbps. How come your saying its pretty ok i dont understand. Its better than ok in comparision. I guess thats where the 32mb buffer figures. I still havent even checked if the jumper at the back is removed to get full 3gb/s performance. Ill open up the system again tonight to check and report on that. But the awful thing is the bad block. That too on a new drive. Last edited by plainman007; 02-22-2009 at 12:00 AM..
(Online)

02-22-2009, 12:04 AM	#14
plainman007 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 361	Re: Help ! Installed a brand new 500gb seagate HDD internal,,,,EXTREMELY SLOW !!! Ctal > Would the Seagate tools help rectify a bad block. I tried windows check disk tools to correct the bad sectors but the test completed and the bad block is still there when HD Tune checks, but windows checkdisk and fix bad sectors didnt report anything wrong. Is a bad block a permanant damage or can it be rectified with some software utility ? Also i wanted to tell you that the HD tune quick scan doesnt show the bad block ? ??? Whats the difference between a bad block and a bad sector ? Are they both the same ?
(Online)

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