Alternative to k3b? or why is everything soooooo slow?

[Bruce Labitt]

Benjamin Scott wrote:

> On Nov 6 at 1:58pm, Bruce Labitt wrote:
>
>> I've got a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-110D running in UltraDMA/66 mode.
>
>
>   You might try "hdparm /dev/hdc" to check that.  I find IDE's 
> performance settings are rather inconsistent in practice.  I know, in 
> the past, I've had to use
>
>     hdparm -c1 -d1 -u1 /dev/hdc
>
> on CD drives to get anything close to acceptable performance.
>
>   You should also check your hard disks as well; if a hard disk 
> bottleneck exists, that will kill your CD performance, too.  On hard 
> disks, I use
>
>     hdparm -c1 -d1 -u1 -m16 /dev/hda
>
> to boost performance.  Sometimes "-m16" needs to be "-m8".
>
>   (It is at times like this that I am reminded why I prefer SCSI...)
>
>   If you like to live dangerously, and/or have a UPS, you can add 
> "-W1" to hdparm for hard disks, which will turn on cached (AKA delayed 
> AKA deferred AKA lazy) writes.  That means writes from the OS will be 
> cached in the drive's buffer RAM, returning control to the OS 
> quicker.  While that can help response time, it does mean a system 
> crash or power failure is far more likely to corrupt data on disk.  
> You have been warned.
>
>> Worse than taking 2.5 hours to burn a potential coaster is the fact 
>> that my system clock was more than 1 hour off [slow] after burning a 
>> full dvd!
>
>
>   On the IBM-PC, that's a classic sign of "interrupt saturation".  The 
> system clock (not the hardware clock) is advanced by IRQ0, the system 
> timer.  If the system spends a lot of time servicing other interrupts, 
> it misses too many of those timer ticks, and so the clock falls 
> behind.  To fix the damage, update the system clock from the hardware 
> clock:
>
>     hwclock --hctosys
>
>   To fix the problem, you need to reduce the interrupt load the I/O is 
> causing.  With IDE devices, this is usually a sign of programmed I/O 
> (PIO) being used.  PIO is about the worst way possible to do I/O.  
> It's also the default for IDE.  See above about "hdparm" tuning.
>
>   You should also check with the drive manufacturer for updated 
> firmware and media compatibility.  High-speed drives tend to very 
> particular when it comes to the media you feed them.  Using the 
> "wrong" brand of media can really kill performance.  So the drive 
> manufacturers will typically publish lists of media known to work well 
> with their drives.  They will also publish updated firmware which adds 
> adjustments and refinements for new and old media alike.
>
Thanks for some insight on the problem.  hdparm -i returns
# hdparm -i /dev/hdc

/dev/hdc:

 Model=PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D, FwRev=1.11, SerialNo=
 Config={ Fixed Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic }
 RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
 BuffType=13395, BuffSize=64kB, MaxMultSect=0
 (maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 *udma4
 AdvancedPM=no
 Drive conforms to: device does not report version:

 * signifies the current active mode

It looks like it is udma4, doesn't it?  So from your example on the drive

hdparm -c1 -d1 -u1 /dev/hdc means set IDE32 bit mode, set dma mode on, 
and set unmaskirq flag?

What does set unmaskirq flag do?  Will the command string above change 
the dma mode?

Oh in case anyone cares, hdparm -I returns:
# hdparm -I /dev/hdc

/dev/hdc:

ATAPI CD-ROM, with removable media
        Model Number:       PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-110D
        Serial Number:      EHDC272268WL
        Firmware Revision:  1.11
Standards:
        Likely used CD-ROM ATAPI-1
Configuration:
        DRQ response: 50us.
        Packet size: 12 bytes
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
        Buffer size: 64.0kB
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 *udma4
             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
             Cycle time: no flow control=240ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
        Enabled Supported:
           *    DEVICE RESET cmd
           *    PACKET command feature set
           *    Power Management feature set
HW reset results:
        CBLID- above Vih
        Device num = 0 determined by the jumper

It still thinks it is in udma4 mode, not  PIO.  Hmmm.

I'll check for the latest firmware release on the Pioneer site.

I have to say I was quite surprised that the time was so far off.  
Really saturated the bus!  I have ntp running.  The time was so far off 
that ntp would not reset/change the time. Ntp thought there was a 
hardware fault [it was right!].

As for media, I bought a bunch of RiDATA  DVD+R's.  I suppose I'll have 
to pick up some other media to try, maybe some -R's...

Regards,
Bruce