hard drive speed - bios trick?

Topics on hardware and modifications. Please post your "how to" steps that involve tools here.
Post Reply
quotaholic
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 569
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:11 pm

hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by quotaholic »

In a quest for better performance I changed a couple things in the bios and I think it worked. I am running debian "lenny" with e16 window manager on a DT366. The chip is a 1gb that was recently purchased.

Bios changes:

Changed PIO mode from auto to PIO2
Changed cache mode from write back to write through.

sudo hdparm -I /dev/hda1 resulted in:



/dev/hda1:

ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number:       1024MB  ATA Flash Disk                 
Serial Number:      A121187307F000057949
Firmware Revision:  ADAA408J
Standards:
Used: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
Supported: 6 5 4
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 1986 1986
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
--
CHS current addressable sectors:    2001888
LBA    user addressable sectors:    2001888
device size with M = 1024*1024:         977 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000:        1024 MBytes (1 GB)
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(cannot be disabled)
Standby timer values: spec'd by Vendor
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1 Current = 0
Advanced power management level: 254
DMA: mdma0 mdma1 *mdma2
     Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
     Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
    Security Mode feature set
   * Power Management feature set
   * Write cache
    Look-ahead
   * WRITE_BUFFER command
   * READ_BUFFER command
   * NOP cmd
   * DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
   * CFA feature set
   * Advanced Power Management feature set
   * SET_MAX security extension
Security:
supported
not enabled
not locked
not frozen
not expired: security count
not supported: enhanced erase
4min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Integrity word not set (found 0x0000, expected 0xfea5)




hdparm -Tt /dev/hda1 resulted in

Timing cached reads:  190MB in 2.0 seconds = 94.93 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 30MB in 3.18 seconds = 9.43 MB/sec

My question is will these toggles work this well on the older 500 mb cards as well?
Last edited by quotaholic on Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
volkswagner
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 144
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:27 am
Location: NewYork's 1st Capitol
Contact:

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by volkswagner »

Running Debian 5-LXDE on 500MB internal Disk:

Before BIOS Changes:

Code: Select all

webdt@WebDT366:~$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/hda1

/dev/hda1:

ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number:       PQI IDE DiskOnModule                    
        Serial Number:      DOM8C00002496       
        Firmware Revision:  ra03.00f
Standards:
        Likely used: 1
Configuration:
        hard sectored
        not MFM encoded 
        head switch time > 15us
        fixed drive
        disk xfer rate > 5Mbs
        Logical         max     current
        cylinders       1015    1015
        heads           16      16
        sectors/track   63      63
        --
        bytes/track: 0  bytes/sector: 528
        CHS current addressable sectors:    1023120
        LBA    user addressable sectors:    1024000
        device size with M = 1024*1024:         500 MBytes
        device size with M = 1000*1000:         524 MBytes 
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY not likely
        Buffer type: 0002: dual port, multi-sector
        Buffer size: 1.0kB      bytes avail on r/w long: 4
        Cannot perform double-word IO
        R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1   Current = 0
        DMA: not supported
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2

Code: Select all

webdt@WebDT366:~$ sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:    56 MB in  2.01 seconds =  27.81 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:    4 MB in  3.11 seconds =   1.29 MB/sec
After Changing PIO and cache as described above:

Code: Select all

webdt@WebDT366:~$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/hda1

/dev/hda1:

ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number:       PQI IDE DiskOnModule                    
        Serial Number:      DOM8C00002496       
        Firmware Revision:  ra03.00f
Standards:
        Likely used: 1
Configuration:
        hard sectored
        not MFM encoded 
        head switch time > 15us
        fixed drive
        disk xfer rate > 5Mbs
        Logical         max     current
        cylinders       1015    1015
        heads           16      16
        sectors/track   63      63
        --
        bytes/track: 0  bytes/sector: 528
        CHS current addressable sectors:    1023120
        LBA    user addressable sectors:    1024000
        device size with M = 1024*1024:         500 MBytes
        device size with M = 1000*1000:         524 MBytes 
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY not likely
        Buffer type: 0002: dual port, multi-sector
        Buffer size: 1.0kB      bytes avail on r/w long: 4
        Cannot perform double-word IO
        R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1   Current = 0
        DMA: not supported
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 

Code: Select all

webdt@WebDT366:~$ sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:     6 MB in  2.03 seconds =   2.96 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:    4 MB in  3.32 seconds =   1.20 MB/sec
Nothing is ever easy, but if it is difficult you must be doing it wrong.
My Wife's invention Doll Carrier
quotaholic
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 569
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:11 pm

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by quotaholic »

Thanks for posting those results. Looks like there are significant performance differences on newer flash chips.

Either that or something really got knocked loose in my recent DT accident. I discovered that by pulling the pcmcia out I can once again boot, however buttons do not register anything. Even with evrouter.

Too early to tell yet as I am still building. Later tonight I will test some other things like web browser and once again, video.

Thanks again
quotaholic
david_halliday
Developer
Developer
Posts: 84
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:13 pm

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by david_halliday »

Which then raises the questions, of what 1GB flash chip did you get, where from and for how much?

Dave.
quotaholic
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 569
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:11 pm

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by quotaholic »

As I had a special agreement worked out on this one pricing is something I cant really talk about. However fellow member tkmedia could probably answer those questions much better than I.

I hope to test some apps out tomorrow to scrutinize any noticeable differences.

quotaholic
rectic
Jr. Member
Jr. Member
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 9:06 am

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by rectic »

I got my 1GB from some reseller, but I did buy a license with it. You could try getting it without a license. The chips are expensive though ($40 for 1GB, even higher for other sizes).. sucks, but I guess thats what you get for something customly done for the product. If you want that contact info, you can PM me, as I don't feel its right to just post the email link here.
quotaholic
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 569
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:11 pm

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by quotaholic »

Since starting this project I have gone through a few DT's. Gave a couple away and have gone through two 1gb chips. The first 1gig chip looked much different than the one tkmedia helped me with. Sadly I did not performance test the first one.

Image

Is a pic of the one I am currently running.

Questions. Have you performance tested yours? And, did that price include a license? Was it preloaded?
rectic
Jr. Member
Jr. Member
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 9:06 am

Re: hard drive speed - bios trick?

Post by rectic »

quotaholic wrote: Since starting this project I have gone through a few DT's. Gave a couple away and have gone through two 1gb chips. The first 1gig chip looked much different than the one tkmedia helped me with. Sadly I did not performance test the first one.

Image

Is a pic of the one I am currently running.

Questions. Have you performance tested yours? And, did that price include a license? Was it preloaded?
I have not performance tested it - I haven't really had time to play with it like I want to. I paid $150 shipped I believe for an XPe License + 1GB Flash Chip preloaded. There are two different flash chips out there to my knowledge, one is green, one is blue. The blue is the RoHS compliant one. I think if you buy a 4GB or higher you can get the RoHS one.
Post Reply