Slow Data Transfer from Slave to Master

[jollyjohn]

G'day

Transferring data from a slave sata HDD to IDE master drive is ridiculously slow. It takes a couple of hour to transfer 500 MB or 4+ Hrs. to do a 5 GB HDD image. TeraCopy is even worse showing 600 Hrs and going up, to complete task. It really freezes. From master to sata is OK. Drives are Seagate and the sata slave is wired to a PCI card, FYI.

Any ideas on what to fix?


Thanks

John

[minidv2dvd]

a drive can only be a "slave" if hooked up to the same cable as a "master" drive. really it's only a name like drive 0 and drive 1. ide drives needed a jumper pin in the right position, but sata drives don't use them.

my guess would be the add-in sata card is malfunctioning. you might try re-installing it's driver.

[jollyjohn]

Thanks mate

[jollyjohn]

I moved the jumper from CS to Master, replaced IDE cable, re-installed RAID driver. It did nothing to improve the transfer speed.
Can someone recomend a good sata to IDE card?

Mainboard : Acer L4S5MG/651+

Device : VT6421 IDE RAID Controller

SCSI Controller : VIA VT6421 RAID Controller is what I have now.

Than you

John

[disturbed1]

Can someone recomend a good sata to IDE card?

I'm confused. Which one of the following fits your situation.

Native SATA drive connecting to an SATA controller?
Native SATA drive connecting to an IDE port with some IDE to SATA converter?
Native IDE drive connecting to an IDE port using IDE cables?
Native IDE drive connecting to an SATA controller with some IDE to SATA converter?

If you are using an IDE to SATA converter - that's your problem.

The VT6421 is an OK IDE and SATA controller card, considering it's $9.50 USD price tag. Make sure you have the latest drivers ( http://www.viaarena.com/ViaDisplayDrivers.aspx?Drivers.aspx?PageID=&OSID=1&CatID=1180&SubCatID=117 ). I believe the VT6421 is only SATA I specification. Many SATA II drives have problems communicating with SATA I controllers. For this reason, hard drive manufactorers offer utilities to switch the drive to SATA I, or there is a jumper to enable this mode. Check the manufacturer's website.

Also make sure it is not sharing an IRQ. You may have to try different PCI slots

[jollyjohn]

Thank you Sir
The drive is a SATA 320GB. It is connected to a SATA to IDE card.

I could never get to OS installed on it to be used as a boot drive. Even with the RIDE drivers integrated in the Windows XP SP3 disk.

I downloaded the drivers you suggested and I'll try them tonight.

Thanks again

John

[JohnnyBob]

I don't have any SATA drives so don't have your specific problem, but note that it could be a fault in the Seagate drive itself. I have a 500G Seagate IDE slave that is noticably slower than my 320G Seagate IDE master when transferring data. I had a prior Maxtor slave drive that was significantly faster, so I believe it is endemic to that particular model of Seagate drive. For example when burning DVDs I always burn from my master drive, not the slave drive, because that Seagate slave drive is marginal (slow).

[jollyjohn]

I gave up on this. I think is time for anew box of chips. I built this one out of four thrown away PCs and some leftovers. Still OK for what I do, if I'm patient.


Thanks all


John

[DereX888]

Is your SATA->IDE controller using DMA? Usually when drive is "slow" it is (usually) windoze's own fault.
Windoze likes to turn off DMA on some IDE channels sometimes, and since your SATA hdd is hooked up to a SATA-to-IDE card (if I understand correctly) that's where the problem probably is.

[Soopafresh]

Download and run the quick test on each drive. Post the drive throughput numbers (the number in the red bar graph)

http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach



Check drives if write caching is enabled

[DereX888]

Download and run the quick test on each drive. Post the drive throughput numbers (the number in the red bar graph)

http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach

When I go to the page there is no "download" button (it says click on "download" button... ) regardless of allowing or not Java and/or Java Script

Perhaps it works only with IE and some Msoft-only stuff like Silverlight or something



Can you post a direct link to file? Thx

[minidv2dvd]

maybe try firefox? link to download shows up with it.

[lordsmurf]

Thanks for posting that link soopa. I can download it fine, if JS is enabled (noscript blocks the site otherwise).

[Soopafresh]

http://majorgeeks.com/HDTach_d672.html

[DereX888]

http://majorgeeks.com/HDTach_d672.html

thx!

[jollyjohn]

Soopafresh, mate, thanks for the link.

Well, FYI I did all the tests and more. Also reinstalled the PCI in another slot. Removed the SATA drive and plugged it to the external SATA to USB and the 1Tera external drive to the PCI card. I backed up the whole 98GB contents of the drive in the external set up to the 1Tera drive in 1H, 9Min. Then I try to send 5GB from the 1T drive to the desktop, it frozed.
I have concluded that the PCI card can transfer data , normally, only one way. You cannot even play videos coming through that card.

I'll ask again. Is there a good card that I can buy to use the SATA drive as internal non boot drive.


Thanks guy I learnt a lot doing this.


John