[ILUG] hdparm ide brutal performance - ubuntu

[Conor Wynne]

Hi all,

root at charzard:~ # hdparm -t /dev/hda
/dev/hda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:   20 MB in  3.17 seconds =   6.31 MB/sec

root at charzard:~ # hdparm -i /dev/hda
/dev/hda:

 Model=Maxtor 98196H8, FwRev=ZAH814Y0, SerialNo=V8033J0C
 Config={ Fixed }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=57
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=160086528
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 *mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5
 AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 0:

 * signifies the current active mode

So I try setting it as follows:

hdparm -c3 -d1 -m16 -k1 /dev/hda

root at charzard:~ # hdparm -c3 -d1 -m16 -k1 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 setting 32-bit IO_support flag to 3
 setting multcount to 16
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
 setting keep_settings to 1 (on)
 multcount    = 16 (on)
 IO_support   =  3 (32-bit w/sync)
 using_dma    =  0 (off)
 keepsettings =  1 (on)

Which borks on activating dma for the drive.
I get an increase in perf from 2.6MB per/sec to a whopping 6MB per/sec.
i.e.: brutal. I think the culprit is DMA, which should be available.

I then try setting udma5 mode & DMA:
root at charzard:~ # hdparm -d1 -X udma5 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
 setting xfermode to 69 (UltraDMA mode5)
 using_dma    =  0 (off)

Worse than useless. Anyone got an idea on this?

-- 
Conor Wynne,
Dublin,
Irlande.