Poor Performance w/Antec MX-1 + Samsung F1 750GB

[Gravestone Doji]

Well, on advice from others here, I bought the Antec MX-1 external HDD enclosure (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371008&Tpk=MX-1). I also purchased a Samsung Spinpoint F1 750 GB HDD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152100) to load into it. I didn't realize that the MX-1 came with an eSATA bracket so I also purchased a Rosewill RC-216 PCI Express eSATA II x 2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132014) Controller Card so I can connect it via eSATA for the fastest possible performance.

Well I got everything all hooked up, then went into Disk Management under Computer Management and activated the drive. It then asked me to format the drive which I did (a full format, took over almost 2 hours). The drive was successfully formatted and it now shows under Disk Management with the following attributes:

Volume: External Drive ( H: )
Layout: Simple
Type: Dynamic
File System: NTFS
Status: Healthy

So far so good. So I planned to store MP3s and a bunch of educational guitar videos I have and copied the first video which is in MPG format to the new external drive. It successfully copied and did so quite fast. But then I checked the video I had just copied and it sometimes seems to stutter during playback. Like it seems to hang and skip; not constantly but it's not smooth like when I play the same video that's stored on my internal HDD (then it plays fine).

Any ideas on what could be causing the poor playback performance? Anything I should check or configure differently to improve the read-speed of the external HDD I have? This is the first external HDD I've ever used and was hoping it would perform just like an internal one if attached via eSATA. Or are my expectations too high?

[Syntax Error]

It could be a drive or eSATA controller problem, you could try mounting the Spinpoint internally with SATA power and connector, but you should be getting good performance for a drive such as this - if everything were functioning properly.

An example of the HD753LJ Spinpoint's performance would be like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/aznhomig/HD753LJ1.png

[Old Hippie]

Type: Dynamic
Did you mean to format that as a Dynamic disk?

Are your other disks formatted like that?

IDK if that could be your problem, but disks are usually formatted as Basic.

Dynamic stuff is usually a PIA. ;)

If you meant to do that, forget I said anything.

[Gravestone Doji]

you should be getting good performance for a drive such as this - if everything were functioning properly.

If everything were functioning properly should I get smooth video playback? I noticed that there is a blue light on the front of the enclosure. If I don't power on the MX-1 prior to booting my system, or if I leave it on after I turn off my system, the light blinks brighter then dimmer over and over again. However the light just stays on steady if I power up the MX-1 prior to system boot. When I play the video and it skips or hesitates, the blue light seems to blink everytime just before it skips. So perhaps I do indeed have something malfunctioning.

An example of the HD753LJ Spinpoint's performance would be like this:

I have no idea how to use or read that graph.


Did you mean to format that as a Dynamic disk?. No, I just choose the default setting I thought.


Are your other disks formatted like that?
No, only the External Disk is shown to be formatted that way. All the other disks in my system are listed as Basic.

I just checked the video again to see if maybe it was a one-time occurrence. It had stutters and jerks again during playback, pretty bad and quite often. Went and checked the same video file on my internal disk again and it plays flawlessly. Something is obviously wrong

[Gravestone Doji]

Here's something else that seems odd. Under Device Manager when I expand the little box next to Disk Drives, the Samsung HDD is listed as a: SATA SANSUNG SCSI Disk Device. Any idea why it is listed as a SCSI Disk?

[Gravestone Doji]

I downloaded HD Tune. Here's what it shows:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/jnick99/HDTune_Benchmark_SATA____SAMSUNG_.png

[Syntax Error]

That seems about right, is that the performance you were talking about in your first post?

[Gravestone Doji]

Well, it seems like the video file is playing more smoothly now that I have run HD Tune on the drive a couple times. It still skips though on occasion and that has not ever been a problem when playing the same exact video file from my internal disk.

I'm wondering if I was to remove or disable the eSATA PCIe controller card and install the bracket that came with the MX-1 (which would connect to one of the available SATA ports on the motherboard) if the performance would be improved. I mean everything seems to be connected correctly and functioning properly, yet the video playback was pretty bad at first, and still skips/stutters every now and then. Hence my question about the eSATA bracket, as I don't know what else to check.

[Old Hippie]

Technically there should be no difference between an external and internal SATA drive.

You've added a controller card into the mix, and it still should be OK, but that has added another variable into equation.

If it were me, I'd reformat that disk to Basic and check out the temp on the external drive. 52C is way too hot for me and I wouldn't think that enclosure would let it get that hot.

After the basics are done, let's go back to the stuttering problem. ;)

[Ockie]

Well, it seems like the video file is playing more smoothly now that I have run HD Tune on the drive a couple times. It still skips though on occasion and that has not ever been a problem when playing the same exact video file from my internal disk.

I'm wondering if I was to remove or disable the eSATA PCIe controller card and install the bracket that came with the MX-1 (which would connect to one of the available SATA ports on the motherboard) if the performance would be improved. I mean everything seems to be connected correctly and functioning properly, yet the video playback was pretty bad at first, and still skips/stutters every now and then. Hence my question about the eSATA bracket, as I don't know what else to check.

Use the bracket.

It could be that because of the cheapness of the esata controller, this is why you are getting this result. I think it's either drivers or your resource consumption by that controller is very high causing you to recieve studder.

[Gravestone Doji]

Yes I know that controller card is quite cheap. I ran the HD Tune test a few times and once the CPU usage showed like 49%.


Technically there should be no difference between an external and internal SATA drive.

You've added a controller card into the mix, and it still should be OK, but that has added another variable into equation.

If it were me, I'd reformat that disk to Basic and check out the temp on the external drive. 52C is way too hot for me and I wouldn't think that enclosure would let it get that hot.

After the basics are done, let's go back to the stuttering problem. ;)

Ya I thought the temp was too high as well. The MX-1 has active cooling but I can't hear the fan at all. Maybe it's not working? Is there a way to check if the fan is even coming on?

I only have a couple files on the drive so far. So I have no problem with reformatting the drive. But when I did it the first time, I thought I just followed the default settings during the prompts. When it was done, well, I ended up with a Dynamic disk. How should I go about reformatting the drive to ensure its formatted Basic?

[Mathemabeat]

You might want to open Task Manager and observe the CPU usage when playing back this video.

Try it when playing back the same video on both the external and internal drive.

Something tells me you might be pegging the CPU to 100% when playing it off the external drive. That would certainly make it stutter.

If thats the case, its either a case of a crap controller card, drivers or both.

[Old Hippie]

How should I go about reformatting the drive to ensure its formatted Basic?
For some reason, my XP Pro install isn't giving me a choice of formatting options anymore. I've been using my Acronis, but there's many other programs/boot disks that will do the job.

I sold my MX-1 and never played with the fan.

You could run your external directly into a MB SATA port to eliminate the card.

[Gravestone Doji]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys. I'm going to try reformatting, try using the eSATA bracket and I'm also going to monitor CPU usage while playing a video file. all good advice.

But I'm also concerned about the temps I'm getting. For an actively cooled enclosure, the disk seems to be running very hot. I've read reviews that say the fan is noisy but I can't hear mine at all. Is there any way to check the fan on an Antec MX-1 to verify that it's actually spinning? Would it be OK to remove the HDD from it and then power on the MX-1 to see if the fan spins up? Any other suggestions to verify the fan is functioning properly?

[Rogue71]

remove your esata card. hook your mx-1 up via the bracket it came with. im willing to bet its a combination of the esata card and its drivers. i have an mx-1 and it works exactly like my other internal drives. i actually have it hooked up to an onboard silicon image esata port.

[Ockie]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys. I'm going to try reformatting, try using the eSATA bracket and I'm also going to monitor CPU usage while playing a video file. all good advice.

But I'm also concerned about the temps I'm getting. For an actively cooled enclosure, the disk seems to be running very hot. I've read reviews that say the fan is noisy but I can't hear mine at all. Is there any way to check the fan on an Antec MX-1 to verify that it's actually spinning? Would it be OK to remove the HDD from it and then power on the MX-1 to see if the fan spins up? Any other suggestions to verify the fan is functioning properly?

Put your cheek up to the vent holes and see if you can feel air movement?

Or pop open the enclosure?