hdparm results

Convergence · 2005-09-09 02:09:32

I have two hard drives, and I would like to know if I should move my OS to my new one because it is faster. I ran hdparm -Tt on both of them, and am not sure if the differences are significant:

hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:   1592 MB in  2.00 seconds = 795.95 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  168 MB in  3.01 seconds =  55.77 MB/sec

That's the old PATA drive that already holds the OS. My other drive is a much larger SATA drive, which makes me want to use if for /home, but if I'll get a significant performance increase by using it to hold /, then I'd rather do that:

hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   1592 MB in  2.00 seconds = 795.95 MB/sec
HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(null) (wait for flush complete) failed: Inappropriate ioctl for d
 Timing buffered disk reads:  186 MB in  3.03 seconds =  61.42 MB/sec
HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(null) (wait for flush complete) failed: Inappropriate ioctl for d

So does this seem like a significant difference? (I get more or less the same results in single user mode) I don't know what the difference between timing cached/buffered reads is, or how to interpret the data. Thanks for any advice.

Dusty · 2005-09-09 02:50:56

I had similar numbers and copied the distro over and I don't think it made a noticeable difference. YMMV.

Dusty

iBertus · 2005-09-09 04:27:34

Those numbers are not far enough apart to make a big difference with most things. I'd just stick /home on the bigger disk so you have more room for your stuff.

Just my $1.95 worth...

Convergence · 2005-09-09 04:45:52

thanks for the advice! I think I'll just leave / where it is.

TomE · 2005-09-11 17:38:59

hdparm does not work with sata drives unless you have a patched kernel

what drives are they?
if they have the rpm and cache you will not see much of a difference.
as sata drive are mostly pata drives with a sata brige the only time you will see a difference is when it reads from cache, when a drive will run at it full speed. 150mbps sata
100 or 133mbps pata

Dusty · 2005-09-11 18:06:49

hdparm -tT works with sata drives. most of the other options don't work too good... although I noticed hdparm -I works in 64 bit arch, but not in 32 bit. go figure.

Dusty

Arch Linux

#1 2005-09-09 02:09:32

hdparm results

#2 2005-09-09 02:50:56

Re: hdparm results

#3 2005-09-09 04:27:34

Re: hdparm results

#4 2005-09-09 04:45:52

Re: hdparm results

#5 2005-09-11 17:38:59

Re: hdparm results

#6 2005-09-11 18:06:49

Re: hdparm results

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