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Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes

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On 2016-05-20 01:23, Mike Spencer wrote:
> This probably isn't a hardware matter per se but maybe a hardware
> wizard here will have a solution.
> 
> IBM P4 desktop came with an IDE HD.  HD failed.  Mobo has two plugs
> labeled "SATA IDE n" where n is "1" and "2".  Plugging a SATA drive
> into one of those (suitable cable and power adapter) results in the
> SATA drive being seen by Linux as hda. (?!) It works just fine in
> every respect except one:
> 
> Large writes to the HD, e.g. cp bigfile-from-foo /dir/on/HD, runs as
> expected for a few seconds, then the system bogs down.  X cursor gets
> jerky, key strokes may take a minute to elicit visible response.
> Copy proceeds at an acceptable speed but the box is unusable until the
> copy is finished and sync'd.

This is typical on Linux. The write to file is cached in RAM while there
is free RAM, then it slows down as the media is not capable of writing
down that lot. And, as there is no more free RAM, the rest of the
processes slow down considerably. The slowest the destination media is,
and the fastest the originating media is, the worst the issue is. Ie, if
the destination is on USB, issue is bad. If it is to a USB stick it is
worst.

There are some tweeks you can do if the copy uses "dd", telling it to
not cache the write. Try "oflag=direct" or "nocache".

Some machines and kernel combinations are worst than others.


You can check the write speed of the disk with "hdparm -tT /dev/device".

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.

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SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-05-19 20:23 -0300
  Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2016-05-19 16:32 -0700
    Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-05-20 12:28 -0300
      Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2016-05-20 09:10 -0700
  Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Pascal Hambourg <boite-a-spam@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2016-05-22 11:37 +0200
  Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@invalid.es> - 2016-05-24 21:52 +0200
    Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-05-28 04:07 -0300
      Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2016-05-28 11:09 +0000
        Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@invalid.es> - 2016-05-28 17:12 +0200
        Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-05-29 01:50 -0300
          Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes ANTant@zimage.com (Ant) - 2016-05-29 11:41 -0500
        Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-05-29 02:41 -0300
          Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@invalid.es> - 2016-05-29 14:06 +0200
            Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes ANTant@zimage.com (Ant) - 2016-05-29 11:42 -0500
              Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@invalid.es> - 2016-05-29 21:09 +0200
                Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2016-05-30 10:57 +0200
                Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@invalid.es> - 2016-05-30 14:21 +0200
                Re: SATA->IDE emulation on IBM P4 bogs down on HD writes Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2016-05-30 15:49 +0200

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