Please help new hard drive install

[Rashkae]

NoOp wrote:

> I wonder... I get different readings on different partitions and file
> type even though the hard drives are identical. They are jumper
> configured for primary and slave:
> 
> /dev/sda:
>  Timing cached reads:   1034 MB in  2.00 seconds = 516.60 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:   84 MB in  3.06 seconds =  27.49 MB/sec
> 
> /dev/sdb:
>  Timing cached reads:   1062 MB in  2.00 seconds = 530.69 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:  144 MB in  3.02 seconds =  47.69 MB/sec
> 
> sdb is a Windows drive. I find that if you do the same with each
> partition on the same hard drive you will get different readings as well.
> 
> /dev/sda1:
>  Timing cached reads:   1044 MB in  2.00 seconds = 522.09 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:   84 MB in  3.05 seconds =  27.50 MB/sec
> 
> /dev/sda5:
>  Timing cached reads:   1014 MB in  2.00 seconds = 506.46 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:   58 MB in  3.08 seconds =  18.84 MB/sec
> 
> /dev/sdb1:
>  Timing cached reads:   1070 MB in  2.00 seconds = 534.98 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:  156 MB in  3.01 seconds =  51.85 MB/sec
> 
> /dev/sdb2:
>  Timing cached reads:   1050 MB in  2.00 seconds = 524.59 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:   96 MB in  3.02 seconds =  31.82 MB/sec
> 
> 

Like I said, the partitions at the start of the drive are faster than
those at the end of the drive.

think of it like a gear ratio.  Track 0, (the start of the drive) is at
the outer edge of the hard drive platter.  Therefore, one rotation (at
7500 RPM) has the entire circumference of the drive to store data.
(actually, it's divided in sectors, and so some space is not used, but
the same principle applies.)  By the time you get to the end of the
drive, at the center of the platter, 1 rotation only has a very small
length of track, therefore stores less data.


Something is a little odd about the second identical drive being nearly
twice as fast as your first hard drive however... really odd. Was your
system under some of kind of file IO load when you made that test?