Horrible HDD to HDD transfer speeds?

[Raphael Argus]

Hello all,

Just installed a new hard disk in my second system. PC is running well. I setup the old HDD as a slave just so I could copy over my data. Both HDD's run well, I see no problems UNTIL I try to copy/cut files from my old disk to the new. I just cut and pasted a 1.8gb file and it took 28mins! That's awful. Why would this be happening? I have 100gbs of data on my second HDD to transfer and at this rate I won't be done for a week. I can transfer the same file between 2 pc's on my network in 1/10th of the time.

I will admit right now the system has an offbrand/weak PSU. It's supposed to be around 450watts.


Specs:
P4 2.8ghz
512mb ram
DVDrw
250gb Sata Maxtor HDD
130gb Maxtor IDE HDD
SB Audigy

 

[jeremy]

see this guide http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=101616 , also check dma settings in bios its best to have it on auto , and make sure your using an 80 wires ide cable (you can tell by the connector colors , blue/grey/black=80 , black/black/black=40)

 

[Raphael Argus]

Ah, I'm using black/black. I didn't realize that the colors effected speed. I found a blue/black, I'll try that before I do anything else. If that fails, I'll read your link. Thanks Jeremy.

 

[Raphael Argus]

Switched cables,no difference. DMA is being used on the second drive. I don't even know if it's worth all the hassle to troubleshoot this or just copy over my information and wait a week while it transfers

It seems like even browsing the second HDD it's running a bit slow. I haven't a clue what the problem could be, the last time I did this I was done copying all my files in about 2 hours.

 

[jeremy]

on what dma mode its running? , and what about the first , and did you check bios dma settings?

 

[Raphael Argus]

Almost everything in the BIOS is set to AUTO, I don't see any actual settings for DMA.

What about jumpers on the second hard disk? It currently doesn't have a jumper at all. If I have the SATA drive as master and set as boot, should I put a jumper on the second HDD as master since it will be an IDE master? Thanks for the help, Jeremy.

I'm using an Asus p4s8x motherboard, if that matters.

And my primary drive is running in UDM 4, the secondary disk says "not applicable". Let me know if I need to pop a jumper on the HDD.

 

[Raphael Argus]

Nevermind. It was the windows Firewall. I enabled sharing on the network and shut off the firewall and it's fine. I just tried that for the heck of it and it worked. Why the heck would windows sharing or firewall slow down transfers between 2 hard disks on the same computer? I understand it's "sharing" but it's on the same PC.

 

[Raphael Argus]

Actually, that didn't fix it.... If I have my SATA drive as master in BIOS should my second IDE HDD be set to master via the jumper? It's currently without jumper, which according to the diagram sets it to Slave. Could this be the speed problem while transferring?

(Sorry to make another post, but I wanted to bump this back since in my last post I said the problem was solved)

 

[Apokalipse]

you could try that, but I don't think it will make a difference.

are you sure the hard drive is using an 80 wire cable?

here's a 40 wire IDE cable against an 80 wire. comparing from these pictures you should be able to tell which it is:

 

[jeremy]

your sata drive is emulated as ide for compatbility its virtual only and have nothin to do with the real ide channels so it wouldnt make a diffrence at all , are you 100% sure your sata is recognized as ide in bios? i dont think the sis648 chipset supports compatbility mode , are you sure about the mobo model? , anyway they should be running in udma7 , in the bios main menu theres primary master/slave etc.. enter the right one.. and youll be able to set the dma mode

are you sure the hard drive is using an 80 wire cable?

make sure your using an 80 wires ide cable (you can tell by the connector colors , blue/grey/black=80 , black/black/black=40)

Ah, I'm using black/black. I didn't realize that the colors effected speed. I found a blue/black