From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 23 22:07:40 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6AC6D106566C for ; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:07:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from drew@mykitchentable.net) Received: from smtp2.mc.surewest.net (qsmtp.mc.surewest.net [66.60.130.145]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 40CE88FC1E for ; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:07:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from drew@mykitchentable.net) Received: (qmail 5495 invoked from network); 23 Jul 2009 14:55:57 -0700 Received: by simscan 1.1.0 ppid: 5464, pid: 5466, t: 2.1668s scanners: regex: 1.1.0 attach: 1.1.0 spam: 3.1.7-deb X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.7-deb (2006-10-05) on smtp2.surewest.net. X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=10.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled version=3.1.7-deb X-Spam-CMAE-Analysis: v=1.0 c=1 a=UB_yN8qgYpcA:10 a=jDt-9pEAAAAA:8 a=mQC8oo_Y_hlZHHuuFWcA:9 a=aOVKpUe37nlt0Eaul5tJDIu9pNIA:4 Received: from unknown (HELO blacklamb.mykitchentable.net) (69.62.230.77) by smtp2 with SMTP; 23 Jul 2009 14:55:55 -0700 Received: from [127.0.0.1] (unknown [192.168.25.5]) by blacklamb.mykitchentable.net (Postfix) with ESMTPA id 6AACB1649F8; Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:07:34 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=mykitchentable.net; s=default; t=1248386856; bh=NbImcQ8OvkB8kJfh4n8Qyh2DcqZN7S5AB6fV3R32V/Y=; h=Message-ID:Date:From:MIME-Version:To:CC:Subject:References: In-Reply-To:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=AwFVhQ8IacOyg1aGf9ggecSuiA5xOM2Xq0mww6LZI5jNkRX+J0yWleWAPcjiDLOsY KqSZb8z2hgJ7Vdsp5oOrlvAj+vty7YTbMQE6NRp/I/BOWlX1ZtD44NylvuBSUd1+dH 03s1J9inHn2E7RsojSiFXLBh/MA2+OMkUbj+DhfY= Message-ID: <4A68DF27.3050303@mykitchentable.net> Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:07:35 -0700 From: Drew Tomlinson User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.22 (Windows/20090605) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Hans Petter Selasky References: <4A67CD2B.9040200@mykitchentable.net> <200907231004.37704.hselasky@c2i.net> In-Reply-To: <200907231004.37704.hselasky@c2i.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 090723-0, 07/23/2009), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, erich@apsara.com.sg Subject: Re: USB 2.0 External Drive - What Is A Reasonable Transfer Rate? X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:07:40 -0000 Hans Petter Selasky wrote: > On Thursday 23 July 2009 04:38:35 Drew Tomlinson wrote: > >> I have a USB 2.0 external drive that's formatted as NTFS under Windows >> XP. I've plugged it into my 8.0 BETA2 install and am copying files to a >> local raid1z zpool with one vdev consisting of 4 drives. I'm trying to >> move about 100 GB of assorted files and have been at it all day. The >> USB drive contains assorted files such as mp3, CD/DVD images, zip, >> documents, etc. I'm guessing most files range between 1 - 4 MB with >> some as large as 4 GB. >> >> Anyway, iostat shows the transfer rate at around 2 - 3 MB per second. >> Is this all I should expect from a USB 2.0 drive? Is there anything I >> can do to speed this up? >> > > Hi, > > Benchmark your device like this: > > dd if=/dev/daX of=/dev/null bs=65536 > > It will give you the correct transferrate number. > Thanks. When using your suggestion, iostat shows rate at almost 34 MB per second which seems reasonable. When copying a large file to /dev/null as suggested by Erich Dollansky, I get right around 10 MB per second. So does that mean that it's the NTFS driver that's causing the slowing? > Maybe there are some utilities in /usr/ports that can read NTFS faster than > the kernel NTFS driver. > Maybe I'll have a look at /usr/ports/sysutils/fusefs-ntfs as suggested by Gary Jennejohn. Thanks, Drew -- Be a Great Magician! Visit The Alchemist's Warehouse http://www.alchemistswarehouse.com