IDE Express - speeds?

[NovaCoder]

-D- wrote:
You should be getting better than that. I would triple check the seating and cable connection of the express adapter (I had to re-seat mine a few times), and add some buffers to your partitions (maybe a few hundred), if you haven't already.

I installed the ide express adapter and it went up to 1.7MB/s. I had some problems initially installing idefix that came with it (system would just hang on starting) but thats been sorted now - and sysinfo is reporting a bit healthier 2.0MB/s..

Not to hijack, but was there anything special you had to do to stop idefix from hanging? I was never able to get it to work with CF cards.

Me too, how did you get this to work???  I've had an open support request with AmigaKit for ages about for this one.  It's a real shame but it appears that the IDEExpress driver is incompatible with most/(all?) CF cards  :-(

The only 'fix' I've heard of is to not use (eg do not execute the IDEFIX driver from within your startup)  :lol:

How are you testing your speed BTW, SysInfo?

I've got a 1230/50mhz and a 8GB Sandisk Ultra CF, running OS 3.9 BB2.

Sysinfo speeds:
1) Standard = 1.9 mb/s
2) IDEEXpress adapter only (no software!) = 3.3 mb/s
3) Blizkick's 'fastSCSI' module = 4.0 mb/s

[NovaCoder]

Fizzy wrote:

I tried all the various options in the idefix prefs but in the end I just put everything to auto.  At least the IDE cd rom is being detected and is working ok off the secondary channel on the 4 way adapter now.

Yep I tried all the idefix prefs as well, didn't help  :-(

I hate to say it by if you're only getting 2 mb/s you prob haven't got the replacement driver running.

[NovaCoder]

Fizzy wrote:
Hmm..

Well, I just reseated the module and its still the same.

I have IDEFix running on startup.

How does the express mode engage then?  Is it purely in hardware for the most part?  Can't understand why it isn't working for me....

Might try a hard disk rather than a CF card and see if that makes any difference.

As far as I know the Express adapter is just a 'dongle'.
I assume you get a speed-boost from running the new 4 way adapter + the IDEFix driver (which prob contains an updated scsi.device).

You're doing better than me, my whole system just hangs if I run the IDEFix driver in my startup   :pissed:

Yep, stick an real HD on instead and let us know if you get the expect speed-boost (should be about 5.5 mb/s for you system).

[NovaCoder]

-D- wrote:
It could be the CF card, because it should just "work". I'm getting about 5 MB/sec with an (overclocked) Apollo 1260, and some SanDisk cards. My understanding is that '030 cards should get at least that, if not a bit better.

5mb is very good for a 1260, a 1230 should be quicker.

Which file system are you using?

[NovaCoder]

With the 60GB HD did you speed-test a partition that was less that 2GB?  I noticed that SysInfo seems to give incorrect readings if the partition is too large.

[NovaCoder]

Fizzy wrote:

NovaCoder wrote:
With the 60GB HD did you speed-test a partition that was less that 2GB?  I noticed that SysInfo seems to give incorrect readings if the partition is too large.

Hmm.... no, it was a 4GB one.  As I set up the drive in hdtoolbox off the 3.1 install disk, it was it as an 8GB drive and created 2 drives.  Might try 2GB partitions just to check.


Well, just tried again with a couple of partitions under 2GB on the HDD.  I was getting a constant 4.65-4.7MB/s, which seems about right.  Thats using standard FFS etc.  The 8GB flash drive is split into 4 <2GB partitions anyway, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Yep 4.65-4.7 seems like a more reasonable figure with FFS.  I assume if you swapped to SFS/PFS and used the SpeedyIDE module you'd get even more  :-D

[NovaCoder]

-D- Wrote:

Also, Piru's "speedyide" module from the BlizKick archive made roughly a 1 MB/s improvement.

 :-D