Member Avatar for eve_fanatic

Hi there!

I've been having problems with a slave HD ever since I installed it. Unlike the main drive (C: for these purposes), it has a tendency to be very slow and laggy when playing high-quality video files, or other large files. Sometimes the files freeze entirely for seconds or even minutes before they can play anymore.

This is confusing to me because the HD is a well known brand and is about equal with our main drive; is it possible that by being placed in the slave drive slot, it's been slowed down somehow? Here are its stats for anyone who wants to know...

Description: DiamondMax Plus D740X 40GB (Ultra ATA/133, 7200 RPM)
Manufacturer: Maxtor

Detailed Specifications
Capacity: 40 GB
Access Time: 8.5 ms
Interface: IDE (ATA/EIDE/ATAPI)
Interface Type: IDE - ATA/EIDE/ATAPI 40 pin Header
Internal/External: Internal
Number of Drives Supported: 1
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Transfer Rate: 133 Mbps
Cache Size: 2 MB

I know the cache is pretty small in comparison to what's considered good these days, but the specs of the C: drive (non-slave drive) are almost equal. Seen here:

WD Caviar EIDE 40 GB WD400BB

General
Rotational Speed 7,200 RPM (nominal)
Buffer Size 2 MB
Average Latency 4.20 ms (nominal)
Contact Start/Stop Cycles 40,000 minimum
Seek Times (Average)
Read Seek Time (Average) 8.9 ms
Write Seek Time (Average) 10.9 ms (average)
Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek 21.0 ms (average)
Transfer Rates
Buffer To Disk 400 Mbits/s (Max)


Thanks very much for any help! ^_^

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 107 Views
  • 12 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Catweazle

Dani AI

Generated

A few targeted checks that go beyond jumper/cable position (the point raised) will quickly reveal whether the secondary drive is misbehaving, the controller is limiting throughput, or the drive itself is failing.

First, verify the ATA transfer mode at the OS level. In Windows this is visible under Device Manager → IDE/ATA controllers → (Primary/Secondary) Channel → Advanced Settings where each device shows “Transfer Mode.” Repeated CRC/errors will force a fallback to PIO and cause the long pauses you describe; if you see PIO, uninstall the channel and reboot so Windows redetects it and attempts DMA again. The controller can also negotiate a lower UDMA mode when a cable or device is limiting the link.

Second, check cables, connectors and power. An 80-conductor IDE cable is required for higher UDMA modes; a damaged cable, loose 4-pin Molex, or shared-channel mismatch can produce CRC errors and throttling. Temporarily put the suspect drive alone on a channel (or swap cables) to see if behavior changes—this isolates cable/controller interaction.

Third, rule out media and filesystem problems. Run the drive maker’s diagnostics (SeaTools) or smartctl from smartmontools to read SMART attributes and run extended tests; many long stalls come from reallocated/pending sectors or timeouts. Also run a filesystem check (chkdsk) and test the drive on another system or controller to separate OS/driver issues from hardware failure.

Finally, update BIOS/chipset IDE drivers, back up important data before stress tests, and replace the drive if SMART shows significant reallocations or extended tests fail. Useful references: Parallel ATA basics and cable/UDMA notes, smartmontools, Seagate SeaTools.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Shouldn't be really any difference. Are the drives configured by jumpers to 'Master' and 'Slave' accordingly, instead of 'Cable Select', and are all IDE settings in BIOS setup set to 'Auto'?


Is the Master drive on the end cable connector, and the slave drive on the middle cable connector?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.