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    Importance of drive optimization!

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by DCMAKER, Jan 5, 2011.

  1. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    Alright so I have made statements about this before but i just wanted to show some more concrete evidence of the importance. Especially if you got a drive that defaults to slowest AAM settings like me.

    This is a copy of a post I just made.
    Alright i just ran these tests. This shows the importance of running a disc optimization and high AAM settings. I am off by a bit from my statements earlier but now you can quote me ^^

    Important do not follow the transfer speeds in HD Tune. HD Tune is inaccurate and glitches on some drives. Check my thread below to read my full post on this issue.
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...hdtune-hdtune-pro-inaccurate.html#post6744790
    SiSoft Sandra does show accurate speeds so read those.

    Note that there is a large difference in latency using a faster setting in AAM the closer to the center you get.

    Important information from tests.
    AAM low settings
    18.7ms for HD Tune
    outer platter 5-15ms
    middle platter is 15-27ms
    inner platter is 25-35ms

    AAM high settings
    12.9ms for sisoft
    14.3ms for HDTune
    outer platter 5-14ms
    middle platter is 12-20ms
    inner platter is 15-25ms
    SiSoft Sandra
    Random Access Time 12.9ms
    Full Stroke Access Time 4.54ms
    Transfer speeds 139.75MBps-67MBps

    Screen shots of tests.
    ImageShack Album - 5 images

    EDIT: does anyone know how to make the AAM default to performance and not the slowest speed. So i dont need to have crystal mark info open 24/7 and its full speed at start up too and shut down
     
  2. Bearclaw

    Bearclaw Steaming

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    how do you change aam?
     
  3. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    you can use HDTune pro or crystal mark info. In the screen shoots it shows you the setttings with the slider in crystal mark info. You go to function->advanced features->AAM/APM

    EDIT: i need to find a way that resets the hardrive default settings because its gay to open crystal mark info every time i start and leave it open 24/7

    Also if you got an hitachi and set AAM at performance your drive will sound like a banshee but it is so much faster....atleast for me since my drive is gay and is at the lowest value :/ Doing properties and getting folder size info is faster defragging is faster and virus scans are faster and smaller access files are faster.
     
  4. makaveli72

    makaveli72 Eat.My.Shorts

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    With my AAM settings defaulting to its lowest position due to the SD24 update the drive is practically silent and I honestly don't notice any ('real-world') performance degradation; but I guess #s don't lie.
     
  5. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    it depends what you do...large transfers with no fragments will be same..its stuff like virus scans defragging moving and reading scattered small files and right clicking on a large folder and doing properties. I'll test doing properties on my 705 gig steam folder for real world results later
     
  6. Panther214

    Panther214 Notebook Evangelist

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    waiting excitedly for your benchmarks.. this would be great if it improved my mometus XT's performance!

    Panther214