Slow hard drive - why?

[bigdavethehorn]

Hello all, as title.

My Diamondmax 9 160Gb drive seems to be running slower than usual lately. It's defragged regularly, has plenty of free space available, yet it's still slower than a week in the jail.

I have two partitions on the drive, one is 60Gb and is used for the OS, games and apps, the other is 100Gb and is my dumping ground, mp3's, videos, photos etc all live there.

So, does anyone know whether my KV8-Pro & H.D.D. supports S.M.A.R.T. monitoring?

I'm concerned that the drive will die on me soon, however, that might provide me with the excuse I've been looking for to buy a raptor.

TIA.

p.s. If my partition set-up has anything to do with my slow drive, please feel free to comment!

 

[defakto]

"feels slow" is hard to diagnostic, that could be alot of things, need more numbers to work with. Some benchmarks showing performance and the like.

 

[bigdavethehorn]

Some benchmarks showing performance and the like.

OK, I'll get on it. Is there any particular benchmark that would be of most use?

 

[unhappy_mage]

HDtach. There are other more real-world-oriented tests, but as a start hdtach makes sure your drive is operating as expected - DMA is on, that kind of thing.

 

[bigdavethehorn]

Cheers, I'll test it this weekend and see how I get on.

 

[RavenD]

When's the last time you defragged? A really fragmented drive would certainly feel slow.

 

[bigdavethehorn]

I use Diskeeper so it's defragged pretty regularly

 

[bigdavethehorn]

OK, I tested the drive with HD Tach and it seems to be where it should be;



Anymore ideas?