Raptor HDD issues

[Wolfman140]

Heya,
So...I just got a new Raptor, and turned my old WD 7.2k rpm hdd into a storage. Funny thing is, when I run HDTach 3.0, the storage/slower drive has a better burst-speed than my Raptor! Also, I notice some maps loading in WoW are slower too.
Other people have all said there is something definately wrong because the Raptor shouldn't be slower by any means (both drives are SATA150) because of the rpm, and the cache is 16mb opposed to my storage's 8mb. So..What could it be?
I have a Gigabyte DS3 and WAS running both hard drives in IDE/Legacy mode off of the Intel Sata ports...Then I switched them over the Gigabyte (JMicron) ports and use AHCI in BIOS. Someone suggested I uninstall all the hard disk controller drivers, DON'T REBOOT, then scan for new hardware and reinstall the drivers. I've heard a lot of funky things about this board and its two different types of SATA ports and they've been troublesome. Anyone have any suggestions/theories on why my slower hard drive has a higher burst-speed?

 

[Tarrant64]

What exact model Raptor are you using? As I understood it some hard drives had extra features that could be enabled in the bios to increase performance, but actually sometimes it decreased performance. I'm not sure all raptor models had this, or whether it was even offered with this. I am looking now to find out what it is, but this could be a problem.

Knowing what raptor you are using also helps too. 36GB, 74GB 150GB(oh my..hehe)

 

[neutralizer]

Check if the right transfer modes and caching are selected in the SATA channel properties in Device Manager.

 

[Wolfman140]

Aye I'm using the 74gb Raptor w/ NCQ. However, i believe this issue is much deeper than this. Unfortunately, I have a Gigabyte DS3 mobo wich has both Intel ports AND JMicron ports. There is much confusion and process to getting the Intel port working to optimum performance.
I believe one has to boot with the Intel ports, switch to the JMicron ports, then install some new drivers for the intel Ports, THEN switch back. This process is confusing the hell out of me as some people are using slightly different models and drivers, etc. And now I'm wondering I have to REINSTALL Windows and such to make the swich, or if it'll work fine as is (wiht all my programs installed). It's really a nice crap-fest actually.

 

[Tlkki]

Hmm. What is the burst speed exactly? AFAIK the raptor is using SATA-I, and your 7,2k drive might be using using SATA-II. If the bursts speeds are like ~150MB/s and 300MB/s.. then thats the so called "issue" here.

 

[dBTelos]

Make sure that the Raptor isn't running in PIO mode from the Device Manager. Sorry this is all I can add.

-dB

 

[Tlkki]

Can SATA devices run in PIO mode? I think there are only SATA generation I and SATA gen II. As neutralized mentioned earlier, prolly a transfer mode issue. That doesn't affect the drives overall speed. The continuous speeds are higher and the random access time is lower than on the storage drive right?

 

[dBTelos]

Can SATA devices run in PIO mode?

I'm not sure. But from a google search it looks like they can. I also recall some forum posts reguarding a SATA drive in PIO mode.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Tlkki
Can SATA devices run in PIO mode? I think there are only SATA generation I and SATA gen II. As neutralized mentioned earlier, prolly a transfer mode issue. That doesn't affect the drives overall speed. The continuous speeds are higher and the random access time is lower than on the storage drive right?

SATA drives can definatly run in PIO mode. One of mine was stuck in PIO for a while, and it was very very slow and sluggish. The burst rate should be slightly better on the raptor, unless the other drive is SATA II. The real advantage of the raptor however is the seek time, although it really doesn't make a huge noticable differance in most cases anyway.

 

[Wolfman140]

The ports are Sata II...However, the 7.2k drive is not Sata II because I bought it a while ago for my old board that only accepted Sata 150. Close though the burst-speeds are:
Raptor: 150
WD Caviar: 257

I'll check the modes as soon as I get home

Unfortunately my Device Manger is such a mess because Ive got a bunch of diff. drivers installed between the two controllers so I'll have to find whats actually controlling the disks for real.
I'm reading all these posts regarding ports on my board and its getting confusing what exactly to do...which ones to use, how to install the drivers, etc. These drives were installed in Legacy mode, meaning they were seen as IDE drives and required no F6 install at Windows Installation. However, afterwards I installed all the mobo drivers...So would I be able to switch it to Native (running in ACTUAL SATA mode) and have everything work properly and with the real SATA speed?

 

[Wolfman140]

PS....Yes all the other values/times are worse on the Caviar/Storage drive. But I can definately see how the worse burst speed on my Raptor affects my WoW load times

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Wolfman140
The ports are Sata II...However, the 7.2k drive is not Sata II because I bought it a while ago for my old board that only accepted Sata 150. Close though the burst-speeds are:
Raptor: 150
WD Caviar: 257

I'll check the modes as soon as I get home

Unfortunately my Device Manger is such a mess because Ive got a bunch of diff. drivers installed between the two controllers so I'll have to find whats actually controlling the disks for real.
I'm reading all these posts regarding ports on my board and its getting confusing what exactly to do...which ones to use, how to install the drivers, etc. These drives were installed in Legacy mode, meaning they were seen as IDE drives and required no F6 install at Windows Installation. However, afterwards I installed all the mobo drivers...So would I be able to switch it to Native (running in ACTUAL SATA mode) and have everything work properly and with the real SATA speed?

If you are getting a burst rate of 257 or any burst rate higher that 150..the drive CAN NOT be SATA I..SATA II drives are backwards compatible, they will work with a SATA port.

 

[Fistandantilis]

using the "speed test" in my device manager for my nforsc 4 controller properties here are my values:
Theoretical limit = 150.0
Burst speed = 127.2
Sustained speed = 88.1

do these values seem correct for the 150 gig WD raptor?

thanks, sorry for the thread hijack.

 

[Wolfman140]

I dunno about the 150g...But on mine, my burst speeds are 150.3, and I'm not sure what its calling the 'sustained speed'? Maybe the average transfer rate? My average using HD tach is about 80. It starts out in the 90's but near the end of the test goes down to low 70s.

 

[Wolfman140]

Hey, before this thread gets too lost in the mix...(BUMP BUMP) Who know show to shut off the damn NCQ using a JMicron controller? If I goto the drive in Properties in Device Manager, I can only disable Tagged Command Queing and Syncronous Transfers. I disabled Tagged, but not the other (cuz I don't know what it does). But I can't figure out where to locate NCQ to shut it off...anyone know where it is?

 

[Oyeve]

Try putting the raptor on another sata port. I had a mobo that, if I put the boot drive on the first port, the drive ran slooooow, put the drive on another sata port and it worked fine. Never found out what was wrong with the port but try putting the drive on another if you can.

 

[Tarrant64]

I didn't finish going through most of this, but the NCQ is what I was talking about that I couldn't remember. i was thinking disable this and check to see what happens....

P.S. I also thought this option was under the BIOS...

 

[Tlkki]

Let me state one fact here to clarify:
The burst speed of a raptor CANNOT exceed 150MB/s (oh well, yours is 150.3MB/s, guess thats ok then)
90MB/s max transfer sounds totally acceptable, and low 70s arent shabby either.
Also anything below 10ms seek time is excellent, and maybe something like 7-10ms for a raptor.

If its the slow WoW loading times that are bugging you, try defragmenting the drive?

EDIT: @Fistandantilis:
Those seem nice values, but you left out the seek time where the raptor really shines. (the burst speed often indicates the speed of the hard disk cache, as no HDD can actually read or write at anything higher than a bit above 100MB/s)

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Raptor vs. 7200.9 250gb

http://www.atotchat.org/~montavis/dmo/comp/raptorvs7200.9.jpg

Yes the 7200.9 has SATA II so it can burst higher, but in no way does it beat my Raptor in startup. I just reformattted the 7200.9 to give it a fresh OS and its still slower. Even my RAID-0 7200.10s don't come close in boot time.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Originally posted by: Wolfman140
Unfortunately my Device Manger is such a mess because Ive got a bunch of diff. drivers installed between the two controllers so I'll have to find whats actually controlling the disks for real.

Maybe this is your problem. Check the drives, then reinstall windows w/ only the OS drive attached for the install. Get windows ready, then plug in the other drives.

 

[fzkl]

The Raptor supports only TCQ and not NCQ. The JMicron controller supports NCQ. I doubt if they are compatible. Options to disable/enable CommandQueing are most often found only in the vendor drivers and I am not sure if it comes in ITB drivers which is what will load if you install legacy mode. You need to view devices by connection in device manager and choose the controller properties under which the hard drive is connected. You might find options to disable tagged queing if its supported by the driver.

Also, I would suggest that you use the JMicron ports if they support AHCI because AHCI removes legacy overhead and improves performance. Hope you can get that to work. Would be great if you can post some storage benchmark numbers comparing legacy and AHCI modes.