Slow 1394a transfers with HardDrive and DV

[src2206]

I believe that Bakura's HDD is rather slow 5400rpm, and that may also create problems like this slow transfer.

[bakura82]

just a straight computer to external disk transfer via firewire was always about 23MB/s

almost any internal and external hard drive can sustain this speed, if properly maintained and defragged

That's what I don't get. I still haven't been able to figure out what's up. I haven't defraged it in awhile, so I will do that to see how it reacts. I highly doubt I will jump from my slow 8MB/s to 23MB/s.

Hook up power to the white plug and the end of the card. It looks like a power connection for the floppy drive.
The 1394 plug inside the case is for hooking a 1394 cable from a box. I have a box in one of my 5 1/4 slots for 1394, USB, and sound.

I am using a laptop. I am not going to open this case.

I believe that Bakura's HDD is rather slow 5400rpm, and that may also create problems like this slow transfer.

I wouldn't say slow. 7200 RPM only became common not too long ago and anything faster is definitely not normative.

[src2206]

Well bakura82, I would not be that optimistic. I had one 5400 HDD in my old COMPAQ PC (bought 4 years back) and another 7200 Barracuda HDD which I added later. I transfer a lot from my DV Camcorder to PC and I found that in my old PC transfer rate to the 7200 rpm was better than the 5400 rpm one.

[Chewy]

using an older laptop for DV work isn't a very good option, get a better computer

[src2206]

using an older laptop for DV work isn't a very good option, get a better computer

with SATA II HDDs

[bakura82]

using an older laptop for DV work isn't a very good option, get a better computer

Not sure if that was meant for me, but my laptop is brand new and top of the line. It's the external drive that I have had for a couple of years.

Well bakura82, I would not be that optimistic. I had one 5400 HDD in my old COMPAQ PC (bought 4 years back) and another 7200 Barracuda HDD which I added later. I transfer a lot from my DV Camcorder to PC and I found that in my old PC transfer rate to the 7200 rpm was better than the 5400 rpm one.

I have no doubt it is faster. I just wonder how much faster? I doubt it would be as simple as a ratio, but with Chewy's figure of 23MB/s, I am willing to take 17.25 MB/s (which is more than double what I am getting right now).

[Chewy]

Your 8 MB/s bottleneck needs clarification, from your first post you have failed to
grasp the issues and shown little understanding of the fundamental concepts of computing.

Do a simple test, take a large file, transfer from your internal hard drive to your external one, something about a gig in size, time the transfer.

[atifsh]

good read must say

[bakura82]

Your 8 MB/s bottleneck needs clarification, from your first post you have failed to grasp the issues and shown little understanding of the fundamental concepts of computing.

lol. I bet you were the popular one in school, eh?

Anyway...

Do a simple test, take a large file, transfer from your internal hard drive to your external one, something about a gig in size, time the transfer.

You are right, I should time it myself because I am relying on the value that Windows Vista reported to me (8 MB/s) and while this new OS is certainly more shiney, it doesn't mean it's file transfer calculations are any better than they have been since Win98.

[bakura82]

Do a simple test, take a large file, transfer from your internal hard drive to your external one, something about a gig in size, time the transfer.

Tests: Firewire Transfer from 7200 RPM HDD on high end laptop to 5400 RPM internal HDD enclosed in an external case.

Assuming the following standards:
1,048,576 bytes equals 1 MB


== Test 1 ==================================
As reported by Vista (on laptop):
Size : 7.49 GB (8,052,813,824 bytes)
On Disk: 7.49 GB (8,052,994,048 bytes)
Contains: 114 Files

Highest Transfer Rate according to Vista averages
9.93 MB/s

My Timed Value: 13:03 = 13.05 minutes = 783 seconds

My Calcs: 8,052,813,824 bytes / 783 s = 10,284,564.27 B/s = [ 9.81 MB/s ]

I guess Vista was fairly accurate on this measurement after all.


== Test 2 ==================================
As reported by Vista (on laptop):
Size : 0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes)
On Disk: 0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes)
Contains: 1 File

Highest Transfer Rate according to Vista averages
9.48

My Timed Value: 1:44 = 1.73 minutes = 103.8 seconds

My Calcs: 1,073,565,696 bytes / 103.8 s = 10,342,636.76 B/s = [ 9.86 MB/s ]

So there you have it. I stepped away from my laptop and this was the ONLY thing running. I received 9.81 MB/s for 114 files at once and then 9.86 MB/s for 1 file.

Seeing as how I have "shown little understanding of the fundamental concepts of computing" and more than likely simple mathematics's as well, I am sure I made a mistake. If would point that out, I would gladly correct for you.

Now, again, I am not genius, but I am fairly certain that 9.86 MB/s is less than the 23 MB/s that you indicated as an average earlier. If we use the RPM theory, then again, 9.86 MB/s is less than 17.25 MB/s (assuming 75% of the transfer speed).

So again I ask, does anyone have any thoughts as to why my transfer speeds are slow?

Thank you.

[Chewy]

it's solely? vista's fault, they have released patch(s) for that

even your 5400 rpm drive should maintain 20-25 MB/s sustained transfers, unless it's a dinosaur

that's good science you did, the calculator and watch are real measurements

rpm's in themselves are not a good indicator of drive performance, I have a 10K drive that's the first scuzzi adapted to sata(raptor), newer sata 7200 drives do better

your first post:

I have noticed that when I transfer files to my average speed (5400 RPM) harddrive in Vista, I can't transfer faster than 8MB/s. Considering that 1394a can transfer at 400Mb/s, that's terrible!

In terms of doing video editing, I only have a laptop and I am forced to capture video to my external hardrive. This is painstaking though. What am I missing? How can I make this faster?

Thank your you input folks.

the topic header

Slow 1394a transfers with HardDrive and DV

indicated to me the slow transfer had something to do with firewire capture of DV

hence the confusion

also refering to sata speeds as 150MB/s, it takes 4 drives striped to attain those speeds

your last test showed that the bottleneck of 8MB/s a second was not related to DV capture

[Chewy]

How to:
Open controlpanel, open administration, open services, and right click Windows Search and click properties. Then choose deactivated, and reboot.

or

Press Windows Key +R

type cmd

Click Okay (this opens command prompt)

Type services.msc

Press the Enter key

Press Continue at the User Account Control Screen

The services management console will open

Scroll down to the Windows Search entry

Right Click Windows Search and select Properties

Click Stop

Select Disabled from the Startup type dropdown

Click Ok

Close the services management console

and people wonder why I stay with windows xp?

[bakura82]

it's solely? vista's fault, they have released patch(s) for that

I believe that is the case. I read something about it but never found that link again. The only patch I find when I search is for XP.[/quote]

even your 5400 rpm drive should maintain 20-25 MB/s sustained transfers, unless it's a dinosaur

Agreed. And the drive is a high end drive. I didn't buy it that long ago, but I did opt for 5400 for better or worse.

rpm's in themselves are not a good indicator of drive performance...

yeah, I stated that earlier. I highly doubt it's simply a matter of a 25% speed difference. There are obviously other factors that are key (which I am mostly ignorant of at the moment). I just gave the figure as an hypothetical example.

As for my posts, sorry if I wasn't clear. The internet tends to be a medium that often leads people to misunderstanding.

Anyway...

...Windows Search

Do you really think the indexer is the problem? I don't. To my understanding, it's supposed to slow and eventually stop indexing with increased CPU usage. Personally, I like the indexer. When you decide to make the jump (I don't recommended until SP2), you will see the benefit.

If MS says so though somewhere, I guess I will have to consider disabling it. Were did you read about the problem in Vista? I can't seem to find a knowledge base article or anything on this topic -- "specifically, slow firewire transfer in Vista".

and people wonder why I stay with windows xp?

Trust me, if I had a chioce, I would have opted out. I wanted a top of the line laptop though. My boxes at home use XP and variants of Linux.

[bakura82]

Found several topics on this. At work and will read later... but I am think there will be no fixes until SP1 anyway. Man I hate paying money to be a beta tester.

[Chewy]

those quotes about fixing it came from the MS technet forum and the longest running thread on the problem

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1358057&SiteID=17

very interesting read, especially at the end, my drive to drive transfers of 4+ gigs only take 2 minutes