HDD read speed

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Can anyone tell me if its possible to tweak the read speed for a hdd? My hard drive has a read speed of 2.7 MB/sec but Seagate gives a figure of > 36MB/sec!!! Also temp is up to 60 C. No I need to replace my hdd or can i tweak it in some way? Will running a low level format fix the problem?

My drive is a Seagate Momentus 42.
 
Are you cooling your case correctly?

Air-intake up front
Air-out-take in the rear or sides .

You should try to keep the case as cool as you can.

I don't know your model of HDD, I only use MAXTOR HDDs which are now supported by Seagate oh joy!
 
mikey71 said:
My hard drive has a read speed of 2.7 MB/sec
These "disk benchmark" figures are often wrong. Caching, block size, fragmentation and background disk usage throw off many drive benchmark utilities and give fantastically wrong results. If your drive was really working at about 2.7 MB/sec, it would probably take you 5 minutes to load Windows. :)

No I need to replace my hdd or can i tweak it in some way?
Let's explore what you can do to improve your woeful benchmark figures (assuming they are correct). The first thing is to ensure DMA mode is enabled, not PIO. The second thing would be to update your chipset drivers, which vary depending on your system platform. There's honestly not a lot left you can do.
Seagate gives a figure of > 36MB/sec!!!
Which is actually somewhat generous. At 4200 RPM, it is probably even less.
Also temp is up to 60 C.
This is not unusual given the cramped conditions of laptop hard drives. Drives are rated to operate in even higher temperatures, but it gives me the jitters to see such high temps on a HDD. This could be a sign that you laptop needs some cleaning out... The ventiliation holes may be clogged up with some dust bunnies. This is just probably due to poor air circulation though, as laptop manufacturers apparently don't care about your data.
Will running a low level format fix the problem?
Most likely not.[/quote]
My drive is a Seagate Momentus 42.
This drive isn't exactly a record breaker, but it should be benchmarking 10x what you're getting. Try HD Tach for a second opinion, if you aren't already using it. :)
 
Thanks for your replies. I downloaded HD Tach and it gave a avg read speed of 3MB/sec. I checked the mode and the hdd was running in PIO mode so after re-installing the driver I set it to DMA. After retesting the rate is 27.7 MB/sec.

My Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D notebook has always run hot and the hdd is stuffed in a corner with no ventilation slots provided - so I guess that doesnt help either.

I'm just going to look into updating the chipset driver but thanks for your help its much appreciated. :)
 
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