Hard Drive - Read/Write Speed Cap?

[XweAponX]

You mean running Games that use a Data Disk? I always mount those whenever I can, unless they are protected. If they are I use Alcohol which emulates the protection, that way the actual protection is not compromised.

 

[Surgikill]

No, I mean just downloading the game files. Such as when steam is downloading game files. I don't use a mounted disk for games, but when it is downloading or updating the files it slows everything down, and task manager shows the disk being maxed at ~5mb/s

 

[XweAponX]

Well, Steam is one big hunk of crap on my machines, actually I don't think it works, not compatible. Plus someone is hacking my account all around the world, I keep getting emails.

A Sata 3 Drive like he has, should NOT be capped at 10MB/s, that's why I think it might be a driver issue, or there is a bottleneck on his Motherboard somewhere. I always go back to Video Drivers, because when not installed right it causes the same kind of problem.

Is there some Video setting, that makes a Video Cache file on the main hard drive? This is why I use cheap Video cards, I don't play games, so I don't need all that power. Whether is is a Video Card Driver issue here or a SATA 3 Data bus issue, something is not right and he's getting slower than ATA speeds.

 

[Surgikill]

I would say update the bios and make sure it is set for ahci mode. I had my Windows seven pc set so it was compatible with ide for whatever reason and it slowed it down incredibly

 

[XweAponX]

I have 2 SATA drives and one IDE drive in my Media System, it never occurred to be to check the speed of the HDD. I just checked it, the IDE drive gets about 60 mb/s, the Hybrid Drive gets about 84mb/s, my 5400rpm Seagate 1 TB gets 100mb/s and my USB Seagate 1 TB dive gets only 22mbps.

It's an HP Motherboard, which is actually an Asus M2N, came as my other motherboard, but there are no Power Settings in the BIOS to switch to S3 or S1. So I don't know if I am running in ACHI mode.

Is there a Hard Disk Testing Tool, not a repair tool like the ones on Hiren's but a tool to test the Hard Drive in DOS mode? Maybe there is one on that disk, but isn't there an HDD Test program that runs in DOS? I'd like to see that run on his system and see what it says, in DOS mode, that wold answer the question of Drivers.

I found this, but I don't know if I'm allowed to post a link to it:

Hard Disk Sentinel - DOS version

 

[adawg]

This has to be a driver issue. I just don't know what to do in order to correct it.

Again, I just ordered a brand new dell laptop with Windows 8 and it's having the exact same issue. Any idea on what drivers to install?

 

[XweAponX]

Maybe it is something Dell installed, this is a brand new DELL machine out of the box? It may be a defect with the drivers they installed. If two different Dell machines are doing this, I dunno I would take the new one back and get another one. Try and test it right there in the store, if you can show them, maybe it's a defect.

I think Sentinel hard Drive tester is on Hiren's Boot CD, you can burn one of those and test your machines, if will bypass the OS and tell you what the System actually DOES. Take the disk with you can test a different machine if they will let you.

I believe DELL systems have an AHCI setting for hard drives, get into the BIOS and set that for all of your HDDs. If I have AHCI in my Old Dell Precision 370 WS, then it should be there in newer machines too.

If Sentinel reports 10mb/s running from DOS mode, then it HAS to be a system defect. I would confirm this and call them on the phone immediately, find a way to send the results to them.

 

[Surgikill]

Try wiping the new one and re installing Windows without the bloat ware and installing the latest drivers for all

 

[OlimPather]

I'm putting this disk under a heavy load and the disk's read speed is just 1 MB/s THE COMPUTER AIN'T DOING ANYTHING!!!!

 

[TechnoMage]

Is that a Steam Powered HD?
Sounds like ancient technology to me!
Maybe about time to get that OS onto a State of the Art, SSD. Save the Old HD for data storage.
That's the best way I know of, to give an old/slow PC a real kick in the pants.