A few weeks ago, one of my hard drives (a Maxtor 120GB) started running slow. Since this is a very busy drive (lots of downloading, video editing, deleting), I tend to defragment it every week or so, therefore I know this isn't the problem.
The slowness can be seen in Nero when burning a DVD. The drive seems to lag (for lack of better term) and the read buffer can't keep up with the burning speed, hence empties and causes a slow burn.
I then got a new one from Maxtor since it's only 8 months old (advance RMA, so I have both the old and new one). I installed and tested it, and have the same problem with it. My primary drive (a 30GB maxtor) doesn't have that problem.
When I run a speed test on the drives, I get the following results:
30GB drive:
linear read: ~36 MB/s
random read: 2.4 MB/s
access time: 11.56 ms
old 120GB drive:
linear read: 4.1 MB/s
random read: 1.2 MB/s
access time: 9.05 ms
new 120GB drive:
linear read: 4.3 MB/s
random read: 1.33 MB/s
access time: 9.13 ms
I don't get it. the access time is faster with the 120GB drives, but the data transfers much slower, even with a new drive. This didn't used to be the case. In Nero, for instance, my 120 drive used to keep up no problem.
BTW, DMA is enabled on both channels (I have win XP).
In case it matters, my specs are
1.2 GB Duron
some ECS motherboard
768 MB ram
on board video and sound card
LG 4163 DVD burner
Any ideas what causes my drives other than C: to slow down like that?
The slowness can be seen in Nero when burning a DVD. The drive seems to lag (for lack of better term) and the read buffer can't keep up with the burning speed, hence empties and causes a slow burn.
I then got a new one from Maxtor since it's only 8 months old (advance RMA, so I have both the old and new one). I installed and tested it, and have the same problem with it. My primary drive (a 30GB maxtor) doesn't have that problem.
When I run a speed test on the drives, I get the following results:
30GB drive:
linear read: ~36 MB/s
random read: 2.4 MB/s
access time: 11.56 ms
old 120GB drive:
linear read: 4.1 MB/s
random read: 1.2 MB/s
access time: 9.05 ms
new 120GB drive:
linear read: 4.3 MB/s
random read: 1.33 MB/s
access time: 9.13 ms
I don't get it. the access time is faster with the 120GB drives, but the data transfers much slower, even with a new drive. This didn't used to be the case. In Nero, for instance, my 120 drive used to keep up no problem.
BTW, DMA is enabled on both channels (I have win XP).
In case it matters, my specs are
1.2 GB Duron
some ECS motherboard
768 MB ram
on board video and sound card
LG 4163 DVD burner
Any ideas what causes my drives other than C: to slow down like that?