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

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Did you remove the jumper from the Maxtor 1T drive?

Depending on the drive model, it may have had by default a jumper limiting the transfer rate to 150MB/sec to be compatable with SATA I controllers as opposed to 300MB/sec for SATA II.

mxo_sata_jumpers.gif



Just putting it out there. I thought I remembered having to do this with my Seagate drives.
 
Did you remove the jumper from the Maxtor 1T drive?

Depending on the drive model, it may have had by default a jumper limiting the transfer rate to 150MB/sec to be compatable with SATA I controllers as opposed to 300MB/sec for SATA II.

mxo_sata_jumpers.gif



Just putting it out there. I thought I remembered having to do this with my Seagate drives.

Even if it is limited to SATA I that shouldn't have a noticeable impact on performance since those drives aren't capable of reading or writing at more than 150MB/sec
 
Ok, I downloaded HD Tune Pro 4.5 and I am running it now.

FYI, HD Tach requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP. It does not seem to work on Windows 7.

Thanks,

Soar

It works in Win7 if you run it in compatibility mode for XP. Just tried it on my system, and it works fine.
 
It works in Win7 if you run it in compatibility mode for XP. Just tried it on my system, and it works fine.

Carn, Ok, will try it as soon as I learn how to use that compatibility mode for XP.

Since the transfer was between two HDDs, the question isn't "why is this one faster?" because the truth is that two of them must be faster and it was only one of them (the 1TB) limiting the transfer.

kmote, I never looked at it that way but now that you mention it, I can see that the 1tb does have a limiting factor...I just tore the system apart and sure enough, the limiting jumper is exactly as BlueHeaven posted.

Even if it is limited to SATA I that shouldn't have a noticeable impact on performance since those drives aren't capable of reading or writing at more than 150MB/sec

PJ, you know, I am not sure about that, but I will remove the jumper and see what happens...

Did you remove the jumper from the Maxtor 1T drive?

Depending on the drive model, it may have had by default a jumper limiting the transfer rate to 150MB/sec to be compatable with SATA I controllers as opposed to 300MB/sec for SATA II.

BlueHeaven, thanks for your post. I thought most drives are sent without jumpers limiting transfer rates....well, I tore into this system today, removed the HD's, and sure enough, it was exactly as you showed me in that post...

I almost forgot to look, but when I was attempting to install this HD in the new Sniper case, I saw that jumper exactly as you described and posted in the pic...

Oh, I made a mistake. This is not a Seagate, it is a Maxtor 1TB. There are four pins, and the last 2 on the right are jumpered.

I am not sure how to remove this jumper...it is different than other jumpers I have run across. This jumper actually appears broken off or only half height [I cannot remove it with my fingers as all other jumpers I have worked with]. It is kind of strange. I think I will try using a pic to get underneath it and remove it.

Anyone else have any ideas on how to remove this jumper, and why would they make a jumper that is such a pain in the rear end?

Soar

mxo_sata_jumpers.gif



Just putting it out there. I thought I remembered having to do this with my Seagate drives.

BlueHeaven, thanks for your post. I thought most drives are sent without jumpers limiting transfer rates....well, I tore into this system today, removed the HD's, and sure enough, it was exactly as you showed me in that post...

I almost forgot to look, but when I was attempting to install this HD in the new Sniper case, I saw that jumper exactly as you described and posted in the pic...

Oh, I made a mistake. This is not a Seagate, it is a Maxtor 1TB. There are four pins, and the last 2 on the right are jumpered.

I am not sure how to remove this jumper...it is different than other jumpers I have run across. This jumper actually appears broken off or only half height [I cannot remove it with my fingers as all other jumpers I have worked with]. It is kind of strange. I think I will try using a pin to get underneath it and remove it. Is ok to use a small metal pin to do this?

Anyone else have any ideas on how to remove this jumper, and why would they make a jumper that is such a pain in the rear end?

Soar
 
As long as its not powered on, go ahead and use a stick pin. I've done it before, and its fine.

To use compatibility mode (same as in every other MS OS):
Right click the shortcut > Properties > compatibility > place a checkmark in the box that says "Run in compatibility mode for X" and pick an OS from the dropdown.
 
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....

Cache is all fine and good, but what are your RPMs? if its 5400 vs 7200 that might explain it... but that is a huge difference so several things might be at work here... do the hard drives all connect to the same controller?
 
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