Slow transfer rate in external HDD

tarun.hellknight · 2011-02-06 00:59:18

I just bought a new Seagte GoFlex 1 TB External HDD (3.5", 7200 RPM). I formatted it with NTFS as I had to use it on Windows too. But it is giving me low transfer speed in Arch. On Windows, the speed is around 28-32 MB/s but it Arch, it never goes above 13 MB/s that's less than half on what I get on Windows. Here is the output of my lsusb command.

[hellknight@Arch-64 ~]$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c52e Logitech, Inc. 
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bc2:5071 Seagate RSS LLC 
[hellknight@Arch-64 ~]$

The output of my uname -a

[hellknight@Arch-64 ~]$ uname -a
Linux Arch-64 2.6.37-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Jan 29 20:00:33 CET 2011 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 640 Processor AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
[hellknight@Arch-64 ~]$

The hardware that I'm using,

AMD Athlon II X4 640
Biostar TA790Gx BE motherboard
8 GB DDR2 RAM
1 TB + 500 GB internal HDDs (both SATA II)
Palit GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Sonic edition card (NVIDA drivers installed)
64-bit OS

Will formatting the HDD in ext4 help? Please guide me..

ewaller · 2011-02-06 01:17:57

please post the output of:
lsusb -s 001:006 -v

tarun.hellknight · 2011-02-06 01:22:30

Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bc2:5071 Seagate RSS LLC 
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0bc2 Seagate RSS LLC
  idProduct          0x5071 
  bcdDevice            1.55
  iManufacturer           1 Seagate
  iProduct                2 FA GoFlex Desk
  iSerial                 3 NA0JYHQB
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           32
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0xc0
      Self Powered
    MaxPower                2mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk (Zip)
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0001
  Self Powered

On the other hand, as the drive was completely empty, I formatted the entire HDD with ext4 filesystem & now I'm getting speeds above 30 MB/s. I think that this is an issue of NTFS-3G driver. I've installed it on my system and my system is fully updated.

ewaller · 2011-02-06 01:34:08

Okay then.

I was interested in ensuring it showed up as a high-speed USB device and that it had negotiated for enough power. I was also going to check that the DMA through the southbridge was all working. It does, it did, and apparently it does.

tarun.hellknight · 2011-02-06 01:38:24

Also, when I copy stuff from a NTFS to NTFS partition or write data to NTFS partition, the system gets pretty slow. I think that these all point towards the NTFS-3G package. I just updated it, maybe it brought some improvements.

R00KIE · 2011-02-06 14:10:23

From my personal experience using ntfs on linux is quite slow despite of what the ntfs-3g devs claim on the project page. However I have never had any problems so far with compatibility or lost data so I guess that's the price to pay for compatibility and data safety if not using a linux native filesystem.

tarun.hellknight · 2011-02-06 18:37:50

Yeah.. it is slow.. even copying data from a NTFS to NTFS partition was giving me around 13 MB/s which is very slow..

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-06 00:59:18

Slow transfer rate in external HDD

#2 2011-02-06 01:17:57

Re: Slow transfer rate in external HDD

#3 2011-02-06 01:22:30

Re: Slow transfer rate in external HDD

#4 2011-02-06 01:34:08

Re: Slow transfer rate in external HDD

#5 2011-02-06 01:38:24

Re: Slow transfer rate in external HDD

#6 2011-02-06 14:10:23

Re: Slow transfer rate in external HDD

#7 2011-02-06 18:37:50

Re: Slow transfer rate in external HDD

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