Is there away to tell if my HD is using all 32meg cache?

[Nokia]

I have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb drive, anyways I looked up in google that some of those drives need a firmware update to fully utilize the 32 meg cache. I found the firmware and all but I wanted to know if there was a program that could let me know if it was using it or half of it is used? Also when Updating the firmware on the drive would I need to mirror my data for back up?

thank u gurus for ur time
Nokia

[DonDon]

Do you want the long version or the short version.

Well, whatdoyaknow, they are both the same.

No.

I just bought the same drive last month. Mine came with the latest firmware, SD15, but even Seatools reports only 8 meg buffer. I dug around on the web for several days and could not find any way to verify hard drive cache. Seagate just says "Trust us, it's there and working fine."

Did you pull the jumper to allow SATA II mode operation. My burst speed in HD Tune went for 105 MB/S to 180 MB/S after I did that.

Don

[drizzt81]

Also when Updating the firmware on the drive would I need to mirror my data for back up?

you should have a backup before you do a firmware update. It is important to note that a mirror is different from a backup.

[jwhazel]

Because of a limitation of the ATA specification, buffer lengths of 32 MB and higher cannot be reported by the hard disk, so they will return '0'
instead.
To avoid confusion the next version of HD Tune wil show 'n/a' instead of '0 MB' for hard disks with buffer lengths of 32MB and above.

Best regards
------------------------------------------------------
HD Tune
http://www.hdtune.com

Message has been posted on various websites, left intact for posterity. Emphasis is on the bolded part.

[DonDon]

Cool, thanks. I had been looking specifiably for info on the 7200.11 drives and did not pick up that message anywhere.

So, 0 = 32 meg or above. Hmmm, that's nice and clear. :rolleyes:

Soon it will be N/A = 32 meg or above. :D

And Seatools will still report 32 meg as 8 meg.:p

Great, no one will be confused ever again.

Don

[jwhazel]

Meh, it's a minor inconvenience at most. Since SSD's are rapidly approaching, I'd say hard drive cache size will be mostly a non-issue very soon. I wouldn't put it past some hdd test tools (seatools included) to just start using a lookup table of model/cache sizes to report >32mb cache drives to set alot of peoples minds at ease.