HDD transfer maxes out at 4MB/s

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stereoD

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Nov 12, 2007
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WD 500GB SATA2 drive on XP. I just started noticing problems a few days ago - programs were taking much longer than usual to load, opening folders would stall out for a few seconds, etc. HDTach and HDTune both reported similar speeds (4-4.3MB/s, every time) and several runs with JkDefrag haven't improved anything. General performance is terrible, it's never been this bad. FWIW, access times seemed OK at 14ms.

I'm stumped as to what to do now. Are there any other tests I should be running?

Thanks
 
sounds like a failing drive to me. back averything up asap

 
Device Manager doesn't seem to show the mode for SATA drives...? HD Tune says it's in UDMA 7.

Strange that performance suddenly took a crap without me changing anything.
 
SATA drives dont use the modes like IDE i believe.... they just run.....

if performance "suddenly" took a crap with out changes then your drive is likely dieing.

run the western digital disk tools on it..
 
cool, i run RAID so never seen the option to change the UDMA or PIO modes or what ever, not that i have ever looked for it either though..
 
Quick Test from WD diagnostic tools didn't report any errors, and SMART says everything is fine. Would you usually see something from either of those if the drive was about to die? I don't have time to run the Extended Test right now (estimated time is 80+ hours) - is there anything else I can do before I try a reformat and/or buy a new drive?

Thanks
 
Well, thanks for the advice to backup my data. I burned a DVD, shutdown the PC to check that all the cables were securely connected, rebooted and Windows wouldn't even load. That sure went fast. Hopefully I can get the rest of my data off once I get the new drive.
 
You mean use a bootable disc with the drivers on it? I'm not sure that would fix anything but I'll give it a shot.
 
HDD transfer maxes out at 4MB/s
Click to expand...

LOL that sux....jk

Just grab the cd for your mobo and reinstall all the chipset drivers just for good measure...and if you there are specific drivers for your sata controller install those as well.
BTW what mobo do you have?
 
Smart is nice, but it is not able to pick up clues to all types of HD failure modes. Sometimes they just die.

The short test only tells you if the controller board is working. To really test a drive, you MUST run the long test. That will actually check to see if EVERY sector can be read.

Don
 
DonDon said:
Smart is nice, but it is not able to pick up clues to all types of HD failure modes. Sometimes they just die.

The short test only tells you if the controller board is working. To really test a drive, you MUST run the long test. That will actually check to see if EVERY sector can be read.

Don
Click to expand...

Yea SMART data usually only picks up on 1/3 to 1/2 of problems base on my experience
 
The drive is effectively dead right now... at least as far as booting / loading Windows. Disk read errors and the like. I was actually going to try reinstalling the chipset and SATA drivers after I checked the SATA cables, but she never came back after that shutdown.

How likely is it that I'll be able to recover anything off of it? I don't want to try reformatting since I still have a lot of family photos on it. That's what I get for not backing up regularly.
 
NE shipped the new drive out earlier today so I should be in business soon. Thanks for the link - will give it a shot.
 
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