[ltp] T30: Improve disk performance?

[Atul Chitnis]

Has anyone had any luck improving the hard disk performance of the 40GB 
disk in the T30?

The disk is a IBM IC25N040ATCS05-0 TravelStar 40GB 5400 RPM, and currently 
gives me hdparm test values as follows:

# hdparm -tT /dev/hda1

/dev/hda1:
 Timing buffer-cache reads:   1188 MB in  2.00 seconds = 594.00 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   68 MB in  3.00 seconds =  22.67 MB/sec

my hdparm settings are:

# hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 multcount    = 16 (on)
 IO_support   =  3 (32-bit w/sync)
 unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
 using_dma    =  1 (on)
 keepsettings =  0 (off)
 readonly     =  0 (off)
 readahead    =  8 (on)
 geometry     = 5168/240/63, sectors = 78140160, start = 0

and disk info looks like this:

# hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=IC25N040ATCS05-0, FwRev=CS4OA61A, SerialNo=CLP425F4GK1M4A
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=7898kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78140160
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,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: mode=0x80 (128) WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-5 T13 1321D revision 3:

 * signifies the current active mode

Other related info is Fedora Core 1 (all updates), kernel 
2.4.22-1.2174.nptl (with USBserial patch applied), 256 MB RAM, 512 MB 
Swap. 

Are there any tried and tested hdparm tweaks that could improve 
performance in any way? The disk feels major sluggish.

Possibly related to this - is it true that turning on SCSI emulation for 
the cdwriter causes DMA to be turned off, drastically reducing read 
performance?

TIA

Atul

-- 
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Atul Chitnis       | achitnis@exocore.com
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
Bangalore, India   | +91 (80) 2344-0397
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