[ltp] [T60] Is SATA slower than PATA?

James PEARSON linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:28:58 +0100


Hello all

openSUSE 10.1 installed perfectly on my T60 (Intel 950GMA chipset) but
the Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 80Go Serial-ATA (HTS541080G9SA00) 5400 rpm
hard drive that it came with is really slow. 

Is SATA slower than PATA? The hdparm scores on my T60 varied from 20.54
MB/sec => openSUSE 10.1 to 30.44 =>  knoppix v5 CD). The results
obtained by the 60 Go Hitachi 7200 rpm PATA hard drive on my old T40
are around 38-40 MB/sec. That means that the hard drive on my old T40 is
1 1/2 to 2 times as faster than what I am getting to the 5400 rpm SATA
drive on my T60. Why?

Any comments or help on speeding things up would be appreciated.

# More details...
I ran hdparm using both openSUSE 10.1 (hd install) and using the knoppix
v5 (CD ). The difference were significant.  What explains this? 

As shown below DMA is enabled by defaut on the
opensuse installation

T60-8wxi:~ # dmesg | grep DMA
  DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
  DMA32 zone: 0 pages, LIFO batch:0
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1810-0x1817, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:pio
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E500 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E580 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E600 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E680 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata1: dev 0 ATA-7, max UDMA/100, 156301488 sectors: LBA48
ata1: dev 0 configured for UDMA/100
hda: ATAPI 24X DVD-ROM CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache, UDMA(33)

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# hdparm score on openSUSE 10.1
T60-8wxi:~ # hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   4824 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2411.49 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   64 MB in  3.12 seconds =  20.54 MB/sec
T60-8wxi:~ #

# # hdparm score on knoppix v5
knoppix@1[knoppix]$ sudo su -
root@1[~]# hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   5364 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2684.35 MB/sec
  Timing buffered disk reads:   92 MB in  3.02 seconds =  30.44 MB/sec
  root@1[~]# uname -a
  Linux Knoppix 2.6.17 #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006
i686 GNU/Linux 


knoppix@1[knoppix]$ sudo su -
root@1[~]# hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   5364 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2684.35 MB/sec
  Timing buffered disk reads:   92 MB in  3.02 seconds =  30.44 MB/sec

###############################################################
  root@1[~]# uname -a
  Linux Knoppix 2.6.17 #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006
i686 GNU/Linux 

###############################################################
T60-8wxi:~ # lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
af_packet              28296  2
xt_pkttype              5760  3
ipt_LOG                 9856  9
xt_limit                6528  9
cpufreq_ondemand       11020  2
cpufreq_userspace       8448  0
cpufreq_powersave       5760  0
speedstep_centrino     11184  1
freq_table              8448  1 speedstep_centrino
snd_pcm_oss            47104  0
snd_mixer_oss          20224  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq                53104  0
snd_seq_device         11916  1 snd_seq
ibm_acpi               28800  0
button                 10640  0
battery                13444  0
ac                      8964  0
ip6t_REJECT             8960  3
xt_tcpudp               7040  5
ipt_REJECT              9216  3
xt_state                6016  12
iptable_mangle          6656  0
iptable_nat            11652  0
ip_nat                 20268  1 iptable_nat
iptable_filter          6912  1
ip6table_mangle         6272  0
ip_conntrack           49880  3 xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_nat
nfnetlink              10136  2 ip_nat,ip_conntrack
ip_tables              16196  3
iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter ip6table_filter         6656
1 ip6_tables             17604  2 ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter
x_tables               16132  10
xt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,ip6t_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables,ip6_tables
ipv6                  243296  17 ip6t_REJECT apparmor
54552  0 aamatch_pcre           17408  1 apparmor
nls_iso8859_1           8064  1
nls_cp437               9728  1
vfat                   16000  1
fat                    51100  1 vfat
nls_utf8                6016  1
ntfs                  199700  1
xfs_quota              48224  0
loop                   19464  0
dm_mod                 57680  0
usbhid                 44640  0
pcmcia                 38716  0
ipw3945               176032  1
snd_hda_intel          21652  1
uhci_hcd               32400  0
intel_agp              24988  1
agpgart                33352  2 intel_agp
snd_hda_codec         139136  1 snd_hda_intel
ieee80211              32968  1 ipw3945
ieee80211_crypt         9728  1 ieee80211
firmware_class         13824  2 pcmcia,ipw3945
snd_pcm                86532  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              25860  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    56708  10
snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore              13024  1 snd snd_page_alloc         13576  2
snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm ehci_hcd               31880  0
yenta_socket           27660  1
rsrc_nonstatic         16128  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            41364  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
ide_cd                 39712  0
usbcore               115716  4 usbhid,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
i8xx_tco               11032  0
cdrom                  36512  1 ide_cd
e1000                 108472  0
i2c_i801               12044  0
i2c_core               23680  1 i2c_i801
parport_pc             39524  0
lp                     14756  0
parport                36936  2 parport_pc,lp
xfs                   494072  4 xfs_quota
exportfs                9344  1 xfs
edd                    12484  0
fan                     8580  0
thermal                17416  0
sg                     35612  0
processor              31208  2 speedstep_centrino,thermal
ahci                   19204  6
libata                 69776  1 ahci
piix                   13316  0 [permanent]
sd_mod                 20352  7
scsi_mod              127880  4 sg,ahci,libata,sd_mod
ide_disk               19072  0
ide_core              122700  3 ide_cd,piix,ide_disk
T60-8wxi:~ #                                                    

###############################################################
T60-8wxi:~ # hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
T60-8wxi:~ # hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
T60-8wxi:~ # hdparm -I /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number:       HTS541080G9SA00
        Serial Number:      MPBDL0XKHA59ZM
        Firmware Revision:  MB4IC60H
Standards:
        Supported: 7 6 5 4
        Likely used: 7
Configuration:
        Logical         max     current
        cylinders       16383   16383
        heads           16      16
        sectors/track   63      63
        --
        CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
        LBA    user addressable sectors:  156301488
        LBA48  user addressable sectors:  156301488
        device size with M = 1024*1024:       76319 MBytes
        device size with M = 1000*1000:       80026 MBytes (80 GB)
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
        Queue depth: 1
        Standby timer values: spec'd by Vendor, no device specific
minimum R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 16
        Advanced power management level: 128 (0x80)
        Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
             Cycle time: no flow control=240ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
        Enabled Supported:
           *    NOP cmd
           *    READ BUFFER cmd
           *    WRITE BUFFER cmd
           *    Host Protected Area feature set
           *    Look-ahead
           *    Write cache
           *    Power Management feature set
                Security Mode feature set
           *    SMART feature set
           *    FLUSH CACHE EXT command
           *    Mandatory FLUSH CACHE command
           *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
           *    48-bit Address feature set
                Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
                SET MAX security extension
           *    SET FEATURES subcommand required to spinup after power
up Power-Up In Standby feature set
           *    Advanced Power Management feature set
           *    DOWNLOAD MICROCODE cmd
           *    General Purpose Logging feature set
           *    SMART self-test
           *    SMART error logging
Security:
        Master password revision code = 65534
                supported
        not     enabled
        not     locked
                frozen
        not     expired: security count
        not     supported: enhanced erase
        52min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Checksum: correct

###############################################################
# More dmesg
ACPI wakeup devices:
 LID SLPB EXP0 EXP1 EXP2 EXP3 PCI1 USB0 USB1 USB2 USB7 HDEF
ACPI: (supports S0 S3 S4 S5)
Freeing unused kernel memory: 188k freed
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with
idebus=xx SCSI subsystem initialized
ICH7: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:1f.1
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1f.1[C] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 201
ICH7: chipset revision 2
ICH7: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1810-0x1817, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:pio
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: HL-DT-STCD-RW/DVD DRIVE GCC-4246N, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
Synaptics Touchpad, model: 1, fw: 6.2, id: 0x81a0b1, caps:
0xa04793/0x300000 serio: Synaptics pass-through port at
isa0060/serio1/input0 ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad as /class/input/input2
libata version 1.20 loaded.
ahci 0000:00:1f.2: version 1.2
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1f.2[B] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 201
IBM TrackPoint firmware: 0x0e, buttons: 3/3
input: TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint as /class/input/input3
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1f.2 to 64
ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0100 32 slots 4 ports 1.5 Gbps 0x1 impl
SATA mode ahci 0000:00:1f.2: flags: 64bit ncq pm led clo pio slum part
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E500 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E580 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E600 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF882E680 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 58
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113)
ata1: dev 0 cfg 00:045a 49:0f00 82:746b 83:7f69 84:6063 85:f469 86:3c49
87:6063 88:043f 93:0000 ata1: dev 0 ATA-7, max UDMA/100, 156301488
sectors: LBA48 sata_get_dev_handle: SATA dev addr=0x1f0002,
handle=0xdffde7a0 ata1: dev 0 configured for UDMA/100
sata_get_dev_handle: SATA dev addr=0x1f0002, handle=0xdffde7a0
scsi0 : ahci
ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0)
scsi1 : ahci
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 0)
scsi2 : ahci
ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0)
scsi3 : ahci
  Vendor: ATA       Model: HTS541080G9SA00   Rev: MB4I
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
 sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 < sda5 sda6 sda7 sda8 sda9 >
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda

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TIA
Regards
James