Samsung F4 2TB - Very Slow Writes

trentlad · 4 Mar 2011 at 13:52

After a little reseaach, Windows 7 appears to be capable of correctly formatting these new Advanced Format Drives.

After a fresh reformat in Windows 7, here are the transfer speeds I experience with a 5GB file:
USB 2.0 external HDD -> eSATA Samsung F4 = 2.3 Mb/s
SATA RAID 0 internal -> eSATA Samsung F4 = 2.4 Mb/s
SATA RAID 1 internal -> eSATA Samsung F4 = 2.4 Mb/s

Here's a bench of the drive:

I've tried going onto Samsungs website and downloading their 'Acronis Advanced Format Drive Alignment Tool', it shows my Samsung F4 2TB but the icon next to it says 'This is not an Advanced Format Drive'! WTH!!?
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/downloads/support_in_aft.html#

I really don't know what the hell to do here. The drive has a build date of Jan 2011 but after using HD Tune to view the firmware version, it looks like firmware 1AQ10001 has been giving people a lot of issues.

Pandobear · 4 Mar 2011 at 17:37

it looks like firmware 1AQ10001

Drives beginning Jan 11 are supposed to be uneffected by the firmware problem. Samsung did not update the version number of the firmware, even though there is the old version which had problems with certain software and the new firmware which does not. If you upgrade to the new firmware then the version number stays the same, and you can reflash it time and time again without it saying that it has already been flashed. Pretty big mess from Samsung in my view, but then, the drives are cheap....

matthab · 5 Mar 2011 at 00:18

Just format the drive in Computer management and select the 4k sector, simples?

trentlad · 5 Mar 2011 at 02:48

Pandobear said:
Drives beginning Jan 11 are supposed to be uneffected by the firmware problem. Samsung did not update the version number of the firmware, even though there is the old version which had problems with certain software and the new firmware which does not. If you upgrade to the new firmware then the version number stays the same, and you can reflash it time and time again without it saying that it has already been flashed. Pretty big mess from Samsung in my view, but then, the drives are cheap....

Ah nice heads up, thanks a lot!! I'd have been pulling out my hair on that one for sure.

matthab said:
Just format the drive in Computer management and select the 4k sector, simples?

Thank you for making me see what was plainly in front of my eyes. I just gave that a blast... let's see the transfer times:

trentlad · 5 Mar 2011 at 11:17

Maybe there is an issue with the drive. Last night I used the standard Windows 7 'disk management' to format the HDD with 4K sectors and this morning it's only at 5%.

:eek:

THAT'S EIGHT HOURS TO GET 5% INTO A FORMAT! :eek:

EDIT: I did disable write caching...

sadbuttrue · 5 Mar 2011 at 11:32

From my experience with Samsung F3 drives, I've confirmed the following causes slow writes exactly as described above.

1. Temperature of drive (or some part of it) drops below 20c
2. Vibration caused by either insecure mounting or a fan nearby/directly in front of the hdd running full speed

There seems to be some kind of protection system employed by these drives that intententionally drops the write speed under certain conditions. I am able to induce slow speeds at will using the above methods.

trentlad · 5 Mar 2011 at 11:45

Really. I might just return this drive and grab the 2TB WD EARS Green HDD. I've been running that one without a single issue for months now.

My Sammy is sitting inside an external case with the fan turned off, so it's ever so slightly warm. The thing is silent except for when you first turn on your system and hear it spinning up. So I don't think it's being cooled too low or vibrating abnormally.

NeverWinter · 6 Mar 2011 at 13:57

I'm getting low read times too (around 30mb/s)

I formatted as 4k allocation

HD Tune is showing 1k alignment, that's not right is it?

It's also 18 degrees according to it... :/

sadbuttrue · 6 Mar 2011 at 15:46

I decided to do some testing and provide reasonable proof of this issue affecting Samsung drives.

16c

17c (had to increase fanspeed to get it back down from 18c)

18c

19c - The 512k result was being done as the temp hit 20c. This shows a clear line at which speed clamping takes place.

20c

DragonQ · 6 Mar 2011 at 20:00

NeverWinter said:
HD Tune is showing 1k alignment, that's not right is it?

No, it says 1 MB alignment, which is fine for 4 kB sectors.

NeverWinter · 6 Mar 2011 at 20:46

Ah yeah my bad. Right so looks like I just need to move it out of the path of my fan? I'll try it out.

NeverWinter · 6 Mar 2011 at 22:02

Running at 21c, better thanks!

mukhs11 · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:08

access time seems to very high for ssd

rpstewart · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:40

mukhs11 said:
access time seems to very high for ssd

Why don't you read the thread rather than just spamming everything in sight. There's been no mention of SSDs anywhere in this thread.

matthab · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:51

access time seems to very high for ssd

Have to love post count rapers.

Maybe there is an issue with the drive. Last night I used the standard Windows 7 'disk management' to format the HDD with 4K sectors and this morning it's only at 5%.

THAT'S EIGHT HOURS TO GET 5% INTO A FORMAT!

EDIT: I did disable write caching...

Tick quick format. A long fromat will take days!!!

DragonQ · 7 Mar 2011 at 13:27

It shouldn't. A long format should only take 2-3 hours per TB.

pepp77 · 7 Mar 2011 at 13:32

DragonQ said:
It shouldn't. A long format should only take 2-3 hours per TB.

Usually takes approx 10 hours to format a 2TB drive fully in W7. Or at least it did on the 5 I did.

matthab · 7 Mar 2011 at 13:34

DragonQ said:
It shouldn't. A long format should only take 2-3 hours per TB.

Beg to differer. Once selected the non fast option on a 1tb drive in XP. Took most of the day.

Combat Fighter · 7 Mar 2011 at 13:50

Samsung F4 2TB Raid 1

1.5TB of data on the drives as well

DragonQ · 7 Mar 2011 at 14:11

matthab said:
Beg to differer. Once selected the non fast option on a 1tb drive in XP. Took most of the day.

Hmm, that is strange. A long format should just be a normal format with a surface scan, and a surface scan should take 2-3 hours per TB (it did for both drives I've tested recently).