Samsung Spinpoint F3 2TB Bad Performance or Bad Drive?

[x3style]

So i got a brand new Spinpoint F3 2TB Eco Green 5400 RPM 32MB i filled it up until it had 2gb left its filled with 4GB or more files(don't ask) and the drive is not fragmented, however if i benchmark the drive i get these:

Notice i tryed all HDD settings:

All - OFF

AAM - Silent - APM - Low Power

AAM - Performance - APM - Performance

Does this look like normal drive performance? I have 7 other Spinpoint F1 1TB drives.Here's one example:

Is this a controller issue i have a M3A79-T Deluxe mobo and have 1 500GB IDE and 6 SATA Drives maybe its maxed out although i dont do any traffic with the others at the benchmark point.

 

[Fetal]

For 5400 green this is normal. lmao what are you expecting?

 

[x3style]

I meant the huge drops, or is it because i tested with 32MB long test in HD tach?

 

[Fetal]

No because its green...

plus I don't know anything about HD tach software. Get HD Tune and post results from it.

 

[x3style]

Btw the last one is from the SP F1 that has 7200 rpm brb with the other results.

 

[x3style]

This is HD Tune:

This is what someone else had on the same type of drive i have no idea if it was full or if that also matters in these tests.

 

[Fetal]

AS I SAID! its fine. plus you cant do the tests accurately so quickly...

 

[x3style]

Ok now i'm totally confused. You didn't answer my question about if it matters if the drive is full or not, and you say its fine i get spikes from 100MB down to 20MB while someone else gets no such things.

And what do you mean so quickly is there a setting that sets the time this thing runs i saw no such thing maybe you can point me in the right direction.

I have the feeling you are not reading the text between the pictures.

And i do not want to complain either for getting free help.

 

[Fetal]

go into settings, drag the slider to accurate fully, and check the box 'full'.

.. though those drops look like your data is being assessed by windows. well show us the results after when its done.

 

[Fetal]

btw go correct your info on first post. read it again :S

 

[x3style]

Wow dude i found the cause you will not believe this. I will be back with screen shots.

 

[Fetal]

^ Waiting

 

[x3style]

I have been using CPU ID's Hardware monitor for quite a while and trough a HWMONTRAY.exe program was making the data available for some HW monitor gadgets that show me fan speeds GPU temps case fan temps and HDD temps, so what happened is as i was trying bunch of solutions or possible causes like bent SATA cables undervoltage as i had all 6 drives hooked to the same line of power plugs but i have a 1000W PSU when i rebooted once the damn thing crashed and i always used to restart it manually but last run i just said *** it let me test the stuff i can't be arsed restarting the damn thing.

And wow the drive was running i though well i moved the power cord made 2 separate to power 3 HDD pe cable so that must have been it, i see the bench 1/3 trough then i restart the HW mon like i allways do and as i go back to the HDD bench bag it crapped up again and i was like WTF what did i do? It can't be the program i used it for so much time, i stop it and boom it goes smooth then i start it again to see transfer rates plummet here's the graph tho go with the story.

Now i think to myself maybe because the trayHW is old and the HWMonitor i use is an older version too i go and dl the latest version from the website and guess what it does the same just slightly less here's a version mark with the disruption.

So this makes it official at least on my system and i would really love it if you guys can confirm the same on you machines.

And finaly one bench without the damn thing.

Flawless!! And this thing disrupted all my 7 drives, get a load of that bug.

 

[Fetal]

Happy now? See how one program can make a difference.

 

[x3style]

I would really like you to try it and see if it does the same to you system i have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I know even Toms uses CPUID software for certain monitoring and benchmark stuff.

 

[Fetal]

No i cant . first of all i have Win XP, then no tB drives, no green crappy drives.

Close the thread now? Solved?

 

[x3style]

Ok this is my final post i have done this test on 2 other machines today and am doing the third as i write this here. I will update this post with the final result. Although i can not 100% reproduce this on other system it might be due to the small HDD sizes i tryed to make the systems as varied as possible to narrow down the problem.

EDIT: I decided to try version 1.1.4 as i thought the 1.1.6 does half the disruptive intensity to see if it actually is visible also on the third system i have the same patter and will provide the shots shortly i could not find a 1.1.4 for the 32 bit system though to test that too.

I. First is the Desktop Lenovo ThinkCenter.

1) HD Tune without HWM

2a) HD Tune With HWM 1.1.6 x64

2b) HD Tune With HWM 1.1.4 x64

3) HD Tach without HWM

4a) HD Tach With HWM 1.1.6 x64

4b) HD Tach With HWM 1.1.4 x64

COMMENT:There is a slight variation in drop frecvency in the HD Tach benches but i don't think its significant enough do draw the same conclusion also the system has a software deployment program running that might run some processes causing the slight variations all in all i see no indication of the same problem i had on my system. HDD size of the system was 160GB and it runst Windows 7 Pro x64.

 

[x3style]

II. Second Lenovo ThinkPad T61 Laptop

1) HD Tune without HWM

2a) HD Tune With HWM 1.1.6 x64

2b) HD Tune With HWM 1.1.4 x64

3) HD Tach without HWM

4a) HD Tach With HWM 1.1.6 x64

4b) HD Tach With HWM 1.1.4 x64

COMMENT:I see here also a slightly increased drop frequency but nothing indicating the same problem pattern. This system runs Windows 7 Ultimate x64 like my main but it does have only a 200GB drive and its a laptop.

 

[x3style]

III. HP Compaq Desktop.

1) HD Tune without HWM

2a) HD Tune With HWM 1.1.6 x86

2b) HD Tune With HWM 1.1.4 x86 unable to find version

3) HD Tach without HWM

4a) HD Tach With HWM 1.1.6 x86

4b) HD Tach With HWM 1.1.4 x86 unable to find this version

COMMENT: In this final test on a Windows XP SP3 x86 Desktop machine we can clearly see the same disruption pattern i have experienced, i could not find the 1.1.4 version of HWM for 32 bit as if it followed the same principle it would disrupt twice as intensive as this version. It might not be as hard of a hit either due to the HDD size being way smaller then a 2TB drive and also the density way smaller.

I do want to mention i will further pursue this problem on my own and find the root of this and maybe my post will help someone encountering the same problem one day.

CONCLUSION: It might be still to early to tell but something is wrong there be it the program directly or something that interferes with the program maybe it queues the HDD's statistics and blocks transfer speeds for that particular moment leading to these systematic drops in bandwidth.
Having discussed with one of the fine guys at CPUID setting SMART in hwmonitor.ini to 0 stops this disrupting behavior but it also stops you from getting any info about the HardDrives.

So the moral of the story is that Reading SMART information from a hard drive will seriously impact your hard drive performance.

 

[x3style]

I would like to have this thread closed, the problem still exists although now we know why and i know this is not common knowledge about S.M.A.R.T.

I would like to change the topic title but i am unable to it says i am not allowed to edit the post when i use "Edit message" in general i can only edit trough quick edit.

I would like to change the title to "Reading S.M.A.R.T. data in real time greatly impacts HDD performance."

Either-way i probably can set myself as the best answer for answering my question on my own )