Why would one of my HD's transfer data 3 times faster than another?

[soarwitheagles]

I have three platter HD's in one of my computers. I was transferring large files last night and I noticed one of the HD's transfers data 3 times faster than the other.

Can someone here help me to understand why?

I have a Maxtor 500 which I use for the OS.

I was transferring large files to the following two HD's will the corresponding transfer rates:

Maxtor 500gb to a Maxtor 1000gb transfer rate: 50-60 mbps

Maxtor 500gb [same drive] to a WD 320gb transfer rate: 150 mbps.

Can someone here help me to understand why the huge difference in transfer speeds?

Thanks,

Soar

 

[carnageX]

What is the cache of each drive? That can be a large factor in the speed a drive has as far as transfer speeds etc.

 

[soarwitheagles]

What is the cache of each drive? That can be a large factor in the speed a drive has as far as transfer speeds etc.

carn, you know, I am not sure of the cache of each drive [I suppose I need to pull the system apart and read the labels on each drive]?

I do remember purchasing a HD with the 32 mb cache, I just do not remember which one!

Would a 32mb cache HD make that big of a difference from a let's say 8mb or 16mg HD?

Soar

 

[patonb]

Doesn't the file type have a factor in it as well?

 

[soarwitheagles]

Doesn't the file type have a factor in it as well?

paton,

I was transferring the exact same file in both instances [my wife's pics, 1GB].

Soar

 

[carnageX]

Open Device manager, go under Disk Drives, and look up the model number of your HDD's and see what their cache is in their specifications.

 

[soarwitheagles]

What is the cache of each drive? That can be a large factor in the speed a drive has as far as transfer speeds etc.

Open Device manager, go under Disk Drives, and look up the model number of your HDD's and see what their cache is in their specifications.

Carn,

Thanks for showing how to discover the cache amounts of each drive without having to tear the computer apart!

Here are the cache levels:

Maxtor 1000gb 32mb cache
WD 320gb 16 cache
WD 500gb 32 cache

I made a mistake in my original post. I thought I had two maxtors and one wd.

Anyway, for some reason, it appears transfer rates to the Maxtor 1000 is three times slower even though the cache is double the other WD.

Dude, I do not understand why this would be happening.

Soar

 

[carnageX]

Is it classified as a "green" drive? If so, that could be a possible issue as well, because it won't spin as fast to save energy.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Is it classified as a "green" drive? If so, that could be a possible issue as well, because it won't spin as fast to save energy.

Carn,

Nope, none of my drives are green because I was afraid of losing performance just to save a couple of cents worth of energy a year....

 

[carnageX]

Try installing HDTune and/or HDTach, and running a speed test on each drive.