hard drive problem help

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Joined
25 Mar 2005
Posts
73
Location
near darlington
tried everythink still showing


pc seems to be slower than usally and i have tried what pc pitstop advised still no better


any help would be fab


TIP > Unusually low disk performance
Drive C has an uncached speed of 3 megabytes per second.

For comparison, systems with the same CPU and clock speed as this one have a speed of 27.06 MB/s.

Drive C has an uncached speed of 3 megabytes per second.

For comparison, systems with the same CPU and clock speed as this one have a speed of 27.06 MB/s.

About Disk Speeds
Our disk speed test measures the transfer rate for a relatively large data file. Low performance in disk speeds can be due to a problem with the disk driver, the disk interface, or the physical disk itself. For example, most recent drives run at 7200RPM and have 8MB or more of onboard buffer to improve disk transfer speeds. Older drives run at 5400RPM and only have 2MB of onboard buffer, which can make them much slower. (To find out the specifications for your drive, go to the drive vendor's site and search for the model number. The model number of your drive can usually be found in your disk details or hardware list.)

If you have a drive with a slower rotational speed or small on-disk buffer, the only solution to that problem is to replace the drive. However, there are several software, maintenance, and configuration issues that can severely impact disk performance. Before attributing the problem to a faulty drive, check the items below to be sure you are getting the most out of the drive. The items near the top of this list are the ones that most frequently solve the problem.



Run our Free PC Pitstop Optimize Scan to find out about files that are left behind from interrupted program installations, system crashes, or browser cache bugs. It also checks your Internet settings and registry for maximum performance!

Try our FREE Optimize scan
Solutions
Delete unneeded files and defragment your disk to see if it improves performance. A disk that is heavily fragmented or very full will often have performance problems. There is a defragmenting utility built into Windows at Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools, although it may not work thoroughly, especially in Windows 98. Visit our Disk Health page for more information.

Disable background software since it may be causing problems. See the Windows details for a list of software that was running during the tests and disable or uninstall as many of these programs as possible. To help get control over your running programs we suggest WinTasks 5 Pro.

Make sure DMA is enabled on all disk drives. Not using DMA mode can cause a significant reduction in disk speed. For more information on how to enable DMA, see these Microsoft documents (links open in a new window): Windows XP, Windows 95/98/Me, Windows 2000, or Windows NT. If DMA will not enable for the drive, it may be due to a corrupted driver file or configuration data. To fix this problem, go to Device Manager, remove the disk controller, and reboot. Windows will re-detect the disk controller and reset the configuration data.

DMA on ATA drives will only work if you are using an 80-conductor cable; you may need to open up the case to visually inspect the cable. If DMA becomes disabled repeatedly over time, it may indicate low-quality cables that need to be replaced. Microsoft mentions repeated DMA errors as one reason why DMA will be disabled, and low-quality cables can be the cause. DMA may also be disabled if you attempt to rip or play a copy-protected audio CD.



Get Updated Drivers!
Run TouchStone's Free DriveAgent to find your PCs most up-to-date drivers.

Better Performance
Improved Stability
Fast and Easy

Update the driver for your disk controller. If you have a system based on the Intel chipset, you can often increase performance by using the Intel Application Accelerator. Systems with a Via chipset may benefit from the Via Hyperion drivers. (You can use TouchStone's DriverAgent to see if you have the latest driver.)

Avoid data compression or data encryption features on NTFS. (One or more partitions on this system are using NTFS.) In My Computer, right-click the drive letter and select Properties. Under the General tab, make sure that the box next to "Compress drive to save disk space" is NOT checked. To be able to see compressed folders, open My Computer, click Tools | Folder Options | View, and check the box for "Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color".

Avoid small cluster sizes on NTFS, they have a very negative effect on disk performance. If your cluster size is smaller than 4KB, you may want to reformat the partition using a larger cluster size, although doing this is a tedious process since you have to back up, reformat, and restore the drive data.

Because of its increased journaling and security features, NTFS is inherently a bit slower than FAT32, but not significantly so. We do NOT recommend reformatting an NTFS drive to FAT32 unless you are an expert user who demands the best possible performance. Most often, serious NTFS-related performance issues are due to data compression or encryption being used.

Make sure the drive's write cache is enabled and that it is set for performance mode, not quiet mode. SCSI drives often have write cache turned off by default, because they are often used in high-reliability applications such as servers. This significantly reduces performance for large disk writes. Similarly, some ATA drives have an "acoustic management" feature that will make the drive quieter but reduce the drives performance. In both cases, the drive vendor's web site will usually have a utility you can download to change these settings.

For more information on this system's disk and drive configuration, see the disk details page.



Disk Drives

ST340016A 40gb
 
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