Poor Access Time on WD5000AAKS according to HD Tune

H

hagbard

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 24, 2004
Messages
293
HD Tune is reporting my new drive's access time to be 19ms. I'm wondering if something could be messing with the results since the drive seems to be working okay (though I've only used it a few hours, no games yet).

If tested it using HD Tune both from this drive and from another drive, same access time result.

wdqz9.png
 
Access time is a little high but nothing I would sya thats completely off. Is it a new drive?
Have you defragd it lately if its not new?

The throughput is good
 
Brand new drive, I copied over he old one to it a couple days ago. Its been defraged but after I did the tests, I ran a disk check and found the recycling bin was 'corrupt'. So, could something like that, or a running program, effect the HD Tune test?
 
If a program is running while you do the test I'm sure it will affect performance.
I dont think a corrupt recycle bin will cause it to slow down.
Like I said earlier your numbers are pretty good.
 
Soo, what did ya expect? It looks pretty normal to me. If your basing your question on the published selling stats, you don't actually think the WD corp. (or any other) gives anything but the best controlled specs for comparision, did ya?

Want faster access times? Get a Raptor. :D

PS.
Your MB chipset and drivers may affect these stats., but it's not gonna make a helluva difference.
As in anything else, it costs money to go fast...sooooo....how fast do you wanna go? :D
 
hagbard said:
HD Tune is reporting my new drive's access time to be 19ms. I'm wondering if something could be messing with the results since the drive seems to be working okay (though I've only used it a few hours, no games yet).

If tested it using HD Tune both from this drive and from another drive, same access time result.
Click to expand...

I tested my drives with HDTune 2.54 and get between 12.5 and 13.5ms.
You are getting approx 50% extra seek delay from somewhere.

I dont suspect bad data transmission as the DTR tests dont show any bad dips.
Therefore the cable or connections are likely not the problem but you might want to try another cable for peace of mind as its really easy.

Can you try the drive on the other Sata controller on your motherboard.
There are often 2 different controllers, it may be a problem with one controller or its driver.
Try newer drivers for your motherboard if there are any.

The DTR curve is a little noisy, are you sure there is nothing running in the background thats accessing the hard drive?
 
Nenu said:
I tested my drives with HDTune 2.54 and get between 12.5 and 13.5ms.
You are getting approx 50% extra seek delay from somewhere.

I dont suspect bad data transmission as the DTR tests dont show any bad dips.
Click to expand...

There were some really nasty dips before I decided to test the drive from another boot drive.

Therefore the cable or connections are likely not the problem but you might want to try another cable for peace of mind as its really easy.

Can you try the drive on the other Sata controller on your motherboard.
There are often 2 different controllers, it may be a problem with one controller or its driver.
Click to expand...

I'll give this a try once my son is off the computer.

Try newer drivers for your motherboard if there are any.

The DTR curve is a little noisy, are you sure there is nothing running in the background thats accessing the hard drive?
Click to expand...

The pic from above was done from another boot drive testing the WD one. So other than HD Tune, I don't think anything was accessing the drive.
 
Tried swapping SATA connectors from one drive to the other (thus testing cable and port) and got the exact same result. Worth returning it over? Again, is it anything I'm actually going to notice?
 
If errors were being caused by the cable, changing it would have changed the result so the cable isnt the problem.

The hope is to find what is causing your slow seek times.
I feel it is related to the DTR curve which should be stepped at worst, not jagged, so it looks like the drive is either in use or is having an issue.

As mentioned earlier, plug the drive onto the other SATA controller and see if it helps.

If no luck, can you try the drive in another PC and run HDTune?
 
Try running windows error-check and then go to WD and get their diagnostic tools and do a deep scan, or whatever they call it. If it give you any errors you can try fixing them with the software, but if it's a brand new drive you may just want to replace it. I'm running 8 of these drives in a RAID 5 for about 10 months or so and haven't had any problems, except for a messed up sata cable that kept dropping the drive, but once I replaced that cable it's been smooth sailing. Good luck and let us know if anything comes up.
 
For some reason I can't get ANY dos based tools to work. The computer boots up to the point where its loading the dos, then the screen goes blank (WD Diagnostic). Or it boots into the program, then freezes and the speaker screeches loudly(Hitachi Feature tool). This is really starting to tick me off.
 
Update:

I've tested the drive in another system, same results. I've turned off acoustic management in using Hitachi tools, retested HD Tune and same results (though I don't know if Hitachi Tools actually changed anything, the drive sounds exactly the same too). So I have a drive with unexplained slow access and a computer that has trouble booting dos based tools.
 
Did you try to test with HD Tach? Bought this drive a couple weeks ago.

 
No, just HD Tune. Its really weird because in every other way, it tests fine and runs okay. It seems that I'm missing something, and i thought that acoustic management was it.
 
hagbard said:
No, just HD Tune. Its really weird because in every other way, it tests fine and runs okay. It seems that I'm missing something, and i thought that acoustic management was it.
Click to expand...
I've had installs where HD Tune gives flakey results and then tested with HD Tach and everything looks fine. I'd run HD Tach and see what results you get, though in general, HD Tune gives slower results than HD Tach.
 
Same result:

hdtachct1.png


BTW, I'm very disappointed with WD, I contacted them on their site three days ago and haven't gotten a reply.

*
 
hagbard said:
Same result:

BTW, I'm very disappointed with WD, I contacted them on their site three days ago and haven't gotten a reply.

*
Click to expand...

Definitely not normal. They should replace it. Keep us updated.
 
Since I've posted the above I've had someone else get in contact with me who bought the drive from the same dealer at the same time I did, and it also tests at 19ms. We're thinking it might be a batch with a faulty bios (like the Seagate AAK). Will WD likely send me a refurb?
 
Where did you buy it from? If it's within their return window, see if they will replace it with a new one. If you have to go through WD and they send you a refurb, I wouldn't worry about it. I know you just bought a new drive and want a new drive, but I've been in the same position. For some reason last year I had a WD drive and Seagate drive fail around the same time and both sent refurbs and they've been running fine. Both were just a few months old at the time too, I guess bad things happen in pairs.
 
There have been two more people report the same issue. I bought them from NCIX in Vancouver...I guess I'd better just contact them.
 
There are now four (or is it five) of use reporting the same issue from the same batch of drives (that is, we all bought it from the same retailer at the same time). I'm suspecting its a newer not well tested firmware (12.01C02). Emailed my retailer yesterday and waiting to hear back. Emailed WD on Sunday, again on Tuesday, Wed, Thursday and today and zero replies. Guess I'll be buying Samsung, Hitachi or Fujisu from here out. Might even return my three month old WD Passport to Costco.
 
In case anyone comes across this post and has the same problem there may be a solution. Many, not all (including me) have solved the issue by manually changing the AAM settings using Hitachi Tools. You do NOT change by simply switching off AAM, you move the scale up to full. I tried that many times before others reported it worked and didn't work for me. Oddly, WD support never even mentioned it. BTW, I sent mine back for a refund.
 
whats sad is my 1TB GP is doing better :p

1tbbench.jpg


reason burst speed is soo low is cuz of sata 150 on this system
 
If you can return drive get the 750AAKS. It's at 149.00 and free ship at the Egg today - or was anyway. It's fast and quiet.


 
I know this is old but I was trying to solve this myself with my 7K1000 Hitachi. I was hitting 18.9ms access times. Turned off the acoustic management and my access time dropped to 13.9ms

69.3MB/S average 151.4MB/s burst.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top