Specific HDD read really really slow?

[Kurtiskain]

Hi there,

First details about my computer setup:
4 HDD's and 1 DVD R/W
Pri IDE:
Quantum Fireball lct 20 20 (problem drive) master
ST350015A Slave
Sec IDE:
HDS722540VLAT20 Master
Lite-on DVD R/W LH20A1P Slave
Promise Fastrack 376 on-board controller:
20 GB HDD - unsure of model as it only shows as stripe 0+1

Mobo: ASUS P4PE

768MB DR 266 RAM

CPU:Intel Celeron 2.5GHz 400MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache (so CPU Power isnt a issue)

GFX card: Radeon 9700 PRO running latest Catalyst drivers

Anyhow, my problem is, when running programs or files off the Pri IDE Master drive, it is incredulously slow. I keep all my movies on that drive and copying them to that drive rather than one of the others is extremely slow, especially when using ConvertXtoDVD, it converts at 0.05x instead of about 1.3x which i used to get before...tried reverting to old settings, everything.

I have tested the drives in Sisoft Sandra and the difference in drives is staggering, the HDS722540VLAT20 averages around 50MB/s and the Quantum Fireball about 16MB/s

ConvertXtoDVD used to convert movies from this drive at full speed about 4 days ago...so why the change now?

the other wierd thing is, I have checked the Forums and found most of peoples problems like this are because of the drive switching into "PIO" mode...I have checked this and it is at UDMA 5 as it always has been in fact all of them are apart from the DVD R/W which operates at UDMA 4

Any insight is appreciated
Kurtis

Edit: Just got told by a friend to run a disk defragment, was amazed to hear the files are 98% fragmented    Will post results when its finished any other comments would be appreciated still

[Kurtiskain]

Hey guys...have defragged over 5 times now and they never seem to work :S

File fragmentation has only dropped to 96% and blue area hasnt moved much

will attatch screenshot of the disk defrag program...

Kurtis

[recovering space - attachment deleted by admin]

[DukeIcewalker]

Check the jumpers on the problem drive.  If they're set improperly, that's the problem.  If your mobo can only do 1.5 gb/s then 3.0 is out of the question.  Or if the mobo can do 3.0 gb/s and it's set to 1.5, there's your solution.

Some drives are set to 1.5 by default.

[patio]

It's time to give up the Ghost on that Quantum Fireball...heck i don't even think they are in the HDD business anymore.
It is the weakest link......Goodbye.
 

[Kurtiskain]

Hahaha thanks Patio ill take that to mind

gosh is it that old?

Sad...

thanks hehe

[GX1_Man]

Quantum has bee kaput for at least 7 years. I think they were bought by Maxtor, who were then bought by Seagate.....

[Kurtiskain]

wow OK and yeah it is just that drive...swapped it out for yet another Fireball...works fine 

but wanna get a new one now    haha