Defraggler Drive Health reports two different transfer modes for identical drives

[aparman]

I have a question about the Drive Health report in Defraggler versus what I see in Speccy.

I have XP Pro SP3, and two identical WD Caviar Black SATA hard drives. I believe both are configured and wired exactly the same (to two different but equivalent MOBO connectors). Defraggler reports the first with "Transfer Mode: SATA/600" and the second as "Transfer Mode: SATA/300". Speccy reports both drives as "SATA-II 3.0 Gb/s".

 

Computer is a Dell Optiplex GX620. Hard drives are WD 5001AALS.

 

I am curious as to why the two are reported with different transfer rates in Defraggler. Would love to have both up to 6.0 Gb/s, if the reading from Defraglgler on the first is correct.

[Super Fast]

How long have u had the drives connected?

 

If a drive experiences a problem, Windows drops the transfer rate to the next fastest, & over time, it can even drop to PIO, which is slowwwww!!!

 

I would check ur DMA settings, uninstall the controller for it in the Device Manager, then let Windows redetect & reinstall it when you click the scan for hardware changes icon at the top of the Device Manager window.

 

If this doesn't do it, I would check/replace the cables if necessary, or try a different slot.

[aparman]

Thanks for your reply.

2nd drive was added less than about 7 months ago, about a month after the first drive replaced an older drive.

I have tried the reinstall controller trick, and DMA is set to UDMA 5 for both (it was set to PIO for my DVD, and reinstall of its controller has reset the DMA to UDMA 2). Cables to both drives are identical, and just as old as the drives, but I can't rule out a bad cable. MOBO has 2 main SATA connection points, right next to each other and easily accessible. I can see six hard drive positions in the bios, but I'll have to open the box to find other connection points.

 

I'm curious if the Speccy reading of 3.0 gb/s (= SATA/300 doesn't it?) for both drives is correct, and the Defraggler health reading of SATA/600 (=6.0 Gb/s, yes?) for one drive is incorrect.

 

Part of the question here is whether I have a drive working slower than possible, or if one or the other, Defraggler/Speccy, is wrong in its assessment of one of these drives.

[Super Fast]

Sata 600 refers to 600 MB/s, which is the same as saying 6 GB/s.

Sata 300 refers to 300 MB/s, which is the same as saying 3 GB/s

 

A lot of drives include information on their metal chasis itself, which can be used to look it up online.

The possibilities I thought of so far for your machine, are to test the following:

 

- Hook up 1 drive at a time, then test only 1 drive. At a time.

- Reverse the drives, so they swap cables & positions, then try & see if the readings reverse or stay the same.

- Test the drives with a very old version of Speccy on filehippo, or even another program to be sure that the information coming up is not a bug.

- Under device manager, check the properties for each drive, & it will show the drive exact name. Look this up online to be sure they are the same.

- Check bios settings. Some boards include settings to allow certain speeds/configurations/etc to be sure nothing is messing with the speeds.

- Test drives 1 at a time on a different computer & see what the readings are.

- Ensure one drive is not a newer "green" drive that can operate at slower speeds than an older "identical" drive.

 

I am sure one of the options above will result in some interesting answers.

 

Let me know what you try & find out!

[Alan_B]

Correction

Please note that GB/s is GigaBYTES per second

which is 8 times faster than Gb/s = GigaBITS per second

 

See http://lowendmac.com...-confusion.html

SATA 600 = Serial ATA Revision 3.0 = SATA 6Gb/s (the Serial ATA International Organization hopes to avoid this being called SATA 3.0)