Hard disk on USB slowed down

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03-05-2010, 12:35
Etor

Hard disk on USB slowed down

Hi all :)

My 1,5TB Western HDD connected to USB of my WL500gP v2 significantly slowed down :(

When I try to copy 500MB file on it, the transfer speed will slow down to 50kB/s. I have it for a year and until last week the speed was always about 2 MB/s.
The file after hours of copying was OK and readable from disk. So I dont understand it.

If I tried to connect with putty and started midnight commander and copy file from and to router disk directly, the speed was very slow too. :mad:

I tried e2fsck and the partition was without errors.

Any idea what happened???? :confused:
03-05-2010, 17:10
Etor

I have about 900GB filled. Is it possible that there is some capacity limit that the WL500gP v2 can use?
05-05-2010, 14:02
Etor

Maybe I discovered something. After my e2fsck check, the dialog said that there is a 36% non-continuous files.

Maybe this is why the file system is too slow. But how it happened? I never see this fragmentation on Ext3 filesystem :confused:

Is it possible to defragment it somehow???
05-05-2010, 18:45
wpte

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etor

Maybe I discovered something. After my e2fsck check, the dialog said that there is a 36% non-continuous files.

Maybe this is why the file system is too slow. But how it happened? I never see this fragmentation on Ext3 filesystem :confused:

Is it possible to defragment it somehow???

It is... with some special expensive tools that are most likely going to break your partition:p
Best chance you have is deleting and placing back a lot of small files, since EXT3 is self-defragmentating as new files are being written.
36% sounds quite ugly tho:p

some reading material:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=712384
http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/ind..._defragmenting
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=407889
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18125810

edit: as you can read in the last link, pyfragtools is free:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=169551
06-05-2010, 07:25
Etor

Thanks wpte!

But do you think, that pyfragtools are safe? I have no chance to copy it on another drive because of large amount of data (approx 900GB).

And do you think, that 36% non-continuous files is the problem why write speed is now 50kB/s? (Read speed stays at 2MB/s)
If I have 50% fragmentation on windows, the write speed is almost the same, not so much reduced!
06-05-2010, 14:50
wpte

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etor

Thanks wpte!

But do you think, that pyfragtools are safe? I have no chance to copy it on another drive because of large amount of data (approx 900GB).

And do you think, that 36% non-continuous files is the problem why write speed is now 50kB/s? (Read speed stays at 2MB/s)
If I have 50% fragmentation on windows, the write speed is almost the same, not so much reduced!

Well nobody reported deleted files or whatsoever with using pyfragtools, so I guess it's ok:)
I'd use it on a PC tho, with ubuntu for example, since it's said to use quite a lot of ram memory;)

Well reading is easier, since you know where the file fragments are at.
Writing requires the drive to look for an empty place, so that usually causes some slowdown. yet... 50KB/s is really slow, so I doubt if it's all to blame to the fragmentation.

Have you checked bad blocks already? this takes quite some time btw.
06-05-2010, 16:31
Etor

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpte

Well nobody reported deleted files or whatsoever with using pyfragtools, so I guess it's ok:)
I'd use it on a PC tho, with ubuntu for example, since it's said to use quite a lot of ram memory;)

Well reading is easier, since you know where the file fragments are at.
Writing requires the drive to look for an empty place, so that usually causes some slowdown. yet... 50KB/s is really slow, so I doubt if it's all to blame to the fragmentation.

Have you checked bad blocks already? this takes quite some time btw.

I've done e2fsck. Is another way how to check for bad blocks?
06-05-2010, 18:31
wpte

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etor

I've done e2fsck. Is another way how to check for bad blocks?

bad blocks test is optional in e2fsck, that's why I'm asking:)
06-05-2010, 18:53
Etor

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpte

bad blocks test is optional in e2fsck, that's why I'm asking:)

And how I start it with bad blocks check? :o
with -c ?

Like:
e2fsck -c /dev/discs/disc0/part3 :confused:
Sorry I am not so advanced user :)

Edit: With parameter -c it said, there is no badblocks... If it is par. -c right one :)

Edit2: I dont know how to run pyfragtool on my Wl500gp :(
I am in directory with defrag and it says:
[admin@ASUS share]$ defrag /tmp/mnt/disc0_3
-sh: defrag: not found
06-05-2010, 21:20
wpte

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etor

Edit: With parameter -c it said, there is no badblocks... If it is par. -c right one :)

Edit2: I dont know how to run pyfragtool on my Wl500gp :(
I am in directory with defrag and it says:
[admin@ASUS share]$ defrag /tmp/mnt/disc0_3
-sh: defrag: not found

good good, so your harddrive is ok then:)

as I said, I don't recommend running pyfragtool on the router, but rather on a pc with linux like ubuntu since it requires quite a lot of ram.
If you don't want a dual boot you can also try virtalbox to run ubuntu virtual: http://www.virtualbox.org/ (its free:D)

also you shouldn't run the defrag on a mountpoint but on a disc partition like: /dev/discs/disc0/part3

and more importantly, NEVER run disc checks or pydefragtool on a mounted partition! you may damage it when it's mounted;)
You probably can't umount it because it's used by optware programs... so instead you should reboot without starting the optware programs. then you should be able to umount the mountpoint:)
07-05-2010, 15:49
avberk

If i where you i would quickly make a backup of your disk.
It is not unlikely your disk is about to fail.

if you didn't change anything to your configuration(no cable switching or removing cables etc.) then i would remove the power from the asus and your disk. wait a minute and then power the disk and the router again.

if it is still slow in writing (wired network) then i would make a backup if possible and test your disk on a windows machine.
07-05-2010, 19:09
wpte

Quote:

Originally Posted by avberk

If i where you i would quickly make a backup of your disk.
It is not unlikely your disk is about to fail.

Good point avberk, totally overlooked that.

you can check if your hdd is failing with S.M.A.R.T. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T. (if your drive supports it obviously)

hdd tune (free) does that health check: http://www.hdtune.com/download.html
so you can look up if any values are alarmingly high:)
08-05-2010, 12:35
Etor

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpte

Good point avberk, totally overlooked that.

you can check if your hdd is failing with S.M.A.R.T. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T. (if your drive supports it obviously)

hdd tune (free) does that health check: http://www.hdtune.com/download.html
so you can look up if any values are alarmingly high:)

Disk is OK I think. It is almost new, I buyed it in February... Have 1842 power on hours and according to HD tune the SMART is OK.

Today I will try defragmentation in virtual ubuntu :)

Edit: so.. its strange, because defrag said that there is no fragmentation and exits...
09-05-2010, 20:05
avberk

The story with hardware:

Either it fails quickly after you bought it, or it fails after years of use.

Do some writing tests under ubuntu before you start defragging.
09-05-2010, 20:52
Etor

Quote:

Originally Posted by avberk

The story with hardware:

Either it fails quickly after you bought it, or it fails after years of use.

Do some writing tests under ubuntu before you start defragging.

Yea I tried to write some files (writing speed was still the same). But defragger under ubuntu says that there is no fragmentation (on the other side e2fsck under ubuntu said that there is 36,6% non-continuous files too).

I think that only copying files and deleting partition will be only way :(