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Storage: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB??
my eSATA is transferring slower than USB??
by djbeema - 5/10/07 5:05 PMI just got a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB external hard drive. I was excited about it because it has an eSATA port, and so does my mobo. So thinking I'd finally get to utilized my computer's eSATA capabilities and that backing things up would be so much quicker, I spent the extra money on the drive and an eSATA cable (drive didn't come with one ).
I got everything up and running and started to transfer some stuff to the drive, but it seemed to me the transfers were going a lot slower than they should. After all, eSATA boasts speeds of 3GB/s.
So I downloaded a little app called HD Tune to test my transfer rates, and here's what I got:
with eSATA connected - 20.5MB/s burst
with USB2.0 connected - 25.6MB/s burst
What the hell is going on here? Not only is the eSATA not moving very fast, but the USB is actually faster than it!
The only thought I had is that either my computer doesn't have it's eSATA configured correctly, or I bought a bum eSATA cable.
Here is the cable I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/36IN-Esata-Signal-Cable-7PIN/dp/B000IAJZ76/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1416624-5455203?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1178737372&sr=8-1
and here is a link to my mobo info:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/p5wd2/
Does anyone know what might be going on?
Are you connected like this?
by samkh - 5/11/07 8:50 AM In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeemaSorry
by samkh - 5/11/07 9:14 AM In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeemajust noticed your mobo has eSATA port.
Have you flashed latest BIOS and installed all mobo drivers, incl. RAID SATA driver?
yeah
by djbeema - 5/12/07 7:35 PM In reply to: Sorry by samkhYeah I just flashed the latest BIOS and the Sata drivers haven't been updated in 2 years according to the asus downloads page, so I have all those.
Seems odd that the mobo would have an eSATA port just because, and not actually have it working to eSATA standards
Also set
by samkh - 5/12/07 10:01 PM In reply to: yeah by djbeemathe Disk Drive Policies to 'Optimize for Performance' and 'Enable write caching on the disk' in XP Device Manager. If set as such, DON'T hot-plug/unplug or you risk losing data. Also partition the disk as extended and format the logical drive in NTFS for better security and data integrity.
I am seeing the same problem
by yobtvoya - 5/27/07 12:40 AM In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeemaSomething fishy is going on. In addition to my onboard SATA II 3.0 Gbps ports, I am using a Promise SATA150 TX4 PCI adapter, which only has a 1.5 Gbps transfer rate (long story why I am using the old controller, so I won't go into it). I attached two drives to this adapter: a Seagate 320 GB ST3320620AS SATA II 7200.10 internal drive, and the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500 GB drive via an eSata back panel adapter. I am using Linux on a Core 2 Quad Q6600 system, so raw power is not likely to be a limiting factor.
I first noticed the speed differential when I ran a large copy (31 GB) to each drive. The FreeAgent drive was a LOT slower, IIRC, 23 minutes vs 10 minutes. I then ran timings, with all OS buffering disabled, using the Linux hdparm utility. I decided that I would time the transfer rate from the disk on-board cache, to factor out variations. The command I used was
hdparm --direct -T /dev/sdX
I was very disturbed to see that the FreeAgent Pro consistently did read transfers about 46% slower than the 320 GB drive - ON THE SAME CONTROLLER. Specifically, about 86 MB/s for the 320GB and about 68 MB/s for the FreeAgent Pro. Now this is supposed to be reading directly from the drive's cache, which should return the maximum transfer rate of the drive electronics, regardless of the disk's mechanical characteristics.
Just for comparison, I ran the same command for the same 320 GB model, but on a SATA II 3.0 Gb/s on-board internal port. The transfer rate for that was 200 MB/s!! I have not tried the FreeAgent Pro on a SATA II port, but I suspect it will not fare a lot better.
Finally, I ran some diagnostics on the drives, and the FreeAgent Pro does not have NCQ (the 320 GB model does). I don't know if this would make a significant difference. It *is* a SATA II 3.0 Gbps drive, so that's not the issue. One way or another, I am sorely disappointed and am going to return the drive. Pity - it is pretty looking, and big, but why is it so slow?
I am wondering if Seagate decided to save on costs and is using the same (slow) back-end circuitry for both the USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors? Maybe their marketing people thought it was a good selling point to include eSATA, but who uses eSATA anyway? By the time enough people were actually using eSATA to notice, they would have brought out a new model that really does run at SATA II speeds. Maybe I am just being too cynical.
i give up
by djbeema - 5/30/07 12:32 PM In reply to: I am seeing the same problem by yobtvoyaI'm just going to have to live with this BS, since it's too late to return it now.
Could you explain to me how you set it up so that it's doing 68mb/s? even that is better than what I'm getting right now.
all I know is seagate just lost a customer
might seem obvious, might not...
by k1darkknight - 6/2/07 10:43 AM In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeemaWhile this might seem obvious to some people, others might go "What? That could make a difference?" Are you leaving the drive connected to the USB port, while you're trying to use the eSATA connection? If so, it might be defaulting to the slower connection, or somesuch. If you've already tried only connecting one port at a time, then I don't know what else to try. This might be in the same category of questions as "is it plugged in", but I can see how someone might not think of this as a potential issue.
Many causes!!
by shot34ever - 6/3/07 8:12 AM In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeemaThe problem may be with your external hard drive. First, be sure you have your Operating system up to date with the latest updates, latest bios update, etc, and check to see if your system recognizes the sata mode of the drive. I would also think that the file systems should match, HTFS file system of your computer to HTFS file system of your External hard drive, not sure if this would make any difference, but it may. I have a WD my book and am debating switching from USB 2.0 to eSATA.
What exactly is inside?
by Kees Bakker
- 6/3/07 8:47 AM
In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeema
A standard drive with some electronics to have USB and eSATA ports? Or a SATA drive with some electronics to add a USB port?
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/pcperipherals/accessories/0,39053287,40574900p-2,00.htm didn't test the eSATA speed, but they 'expect' it to be much higher.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129566/article.html notes 80 seconds for 3 Gb of files and folders in eSATA mode, but doesn't mention USB speed. And just a bunch of files isn't the best speed test imaginable, of course.
Anyway, you've got a perfect point when returning it. The product data sheet on their website (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent_pro_data_movers/) just mentions the theoretical maximum (480 Mb/s for USB, 3 Gb/s for eSata) under the heading "performance spec". They surely can't deliver that, so whatever it is, it's not a performance spec, as your measurements show.
Hope you find the problem, however. It's a nice looking drive.
Kees
unfortunatley
by djbeema - 6/6/07 9:59 PM In reply to: What exactly is inside? by Kees Bakker
I bought this drive from Dell, and their policy is 21 days or less for a return. It's been much longer than that, so I don't really think I have any recourse.
Just stuck with a mediocre drive that sucked me in because it was flashy.
same problem
by Nue Life - 6/11/07 6:56 PM In reply to: unfortunatley by djbeemaI have a via sata card and a 500gb free agent drive and my sata port is the slowest thing on earth. I returened the first one cause it was crashing and stoped working, and the new one is slow and basically comes to a hault almost for a long while before it finishes.
Firmware upgrade will help
by MadCracken - 6/18/07 6:11 PM In reply to: my eSATA is transferring slower than USB?? by djbeemaI had the same problem before. I upgraded the firmware using http://support.seagate.com/rightnow/downloads/FA_Pro_eSATA_Update.zip and it helped a bunch. Now I get 40MB/s average and 79MB/s burst rates (as per HD Tune). Make sure you follow all the steps given in the PDF.
Also, I had to turn off the drive for like 30sec before re-using it after the upgrade. Any other solution around?
thanks
by djbeema - 6/20/07 7:04 PM In reply to: Firmware upgrade will help by MadCrackenI'll give the firmware upgrade a try, thanks for posting it.
Hopefully it will do something positive.
what's the new firmware version?
by vannguyen0 - 6/25/07 11:00 AM In reply to: Firmware upgrade will help by MadCrackenI have the same problem with my Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB eSATA drive. After 2 hours on phone with level 2 support (half of the time I was on hold)... the stupid level 2 support rep. suggested that I go out and buy a eSATA controller and not use the one that's built onto my motherboard (Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe). I asked him about the firmware upgrade and he said that it probably would not help and I should take his advice and buy a dedicated eSATA controller and give support a call back if I am still experiencing the same issue. I told him he's an idiot and hung up on him.
Anyways... my FreeAgent's firmware is currently at 40.0A. What's the new firmware version? And what transfer rates are you getting with it?
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