IDE Express - speeds?

[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

[Fizzy]

NovaCoder wrote:

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

Hi,

I'm aware of PFS (got an original cd of PFS2 complete with "kang fu" game  :-D ) and SFS - but what's the SpeedyIDE module?

[NovaCoder]

-D- Wrote:

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

 :-D

[Fizzy]

NovaCoder wrote:
-D- Wrote:

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

 :-D

Ahhh - ok. I'll look into that too.    Thanks.

[JimmySage]

Fizzy wrote:
Well, it pops up with a message "you have both channels in slow mode - why did you buy an express?" when I have both jumpers on slow mode (funnily enough) so I think its working ok.  Certainly not reporting any cable problems.

I had exactly this same message and it turned out that it wasn't pushed onto the chip as well as I thought it was. I had to remove my indivision to fit it as they're touching when all is in place.

You also need to check that the small cable connecting to the splitter is fitted correctly, there should be indicators on the board as to where pin 1 (the red wire) goes.

I haven't tried any before / after speed tests, but I could have a go this evening.

James

[Fizzy]

JimmySage wrote:

Fizzy wrote:
Well, it pops up with a message "you have both channels in slow mode - why did you buy an express?" when I have both jumpers on slow mode (funnily enough) so I think its working ok.  Certainly not reporting any cable problems.

I had exactly this same message and it turned out that it wasn't pushed onto the chip as well as I thought it was. I had to remove my indivision to fit it as they're touching when all is in place.

You also need to check that the small cable connecting to the splitter is fitted correctly, there should be indicators on the board as to where pin 1 (the red wire) goes.

I haven't tried any before / after speed tests, but I could have a go this evening.

James

Yup - everything seated and wired up correctly - double checked that first.

I did have to file a little away from the side of the board as it was just catching on the indivision card.  I was very careful not to break any tracks on the board though - and it was more of a leveling/smoothing process rather than a proper trim.   :-D

[Chrome]

What kind of speed is expected to get with A1200/030@50MHz/32MB fast/standard IDE with 4GB 133x CF ?

Sysinfo benchmarks on SFS-formatted drive 1.9MB/s, Diskspeed about the same with 512KB buffer.

[Fizzy]

Chrome wrote:
What kind of speed is expected to get with A1200/030@50MHz/32MB fast/standard IDE with 4GB 133x CF ?

Sysinfo benchmarks on SFS-formatted drive 1.9MB/s, Diskspeed about the same with 512KB buffer.

That sounds about right for standard controller ide speeds.

[Fizzy]

Fizzy wrote:

NovaCoder wrote:
-D- Wrote:

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

 :-D

Ahhh - ok. I'll look into that too.    Thanks.

Well - downloaded the latest/last version of blizkick and installed.  Having a few problems - I've extracted the modules from the "AmigaOS ROM Update" file and have specified them as modules with blizkick as described in the docs.

However, when Setpatch NOROMUPDATES is run it resets and guru's the machine.  

If I comment out setpatch everything loads fine - except none of the workbench libraries are patched.  

Also read in a section in the docs that the SpeedyIDE module/idea is already implemented in the later versions of IDEFix 97 anyway.....  :-?

Anybody have any similar issues using setpatch with blizkick?

EDIT:  Erm - looks like setpatch just doesn't like it when the rom remap option is enabled on the blizzard.  No blizkick in startup and normal setpatch command (even with noromupdate option) still causes it to crash, even from a cold boot.   :-(

[JimmySage]

Fizzy wrote:
Hi,

I bought an EB "IDE Express!" 4 way adapter and express module, which I have recently installed in my a1200.

I have a 1230/50 accelerator card installed.  

Basically I'm getting nowhere near the 5.0MB/s quoted on the ads etc.

I'm using a compact flash card and adapter.  The CF card is rated at over 20MB/s when tested on a pc.  However, when used on the amiga prior to the ide express it was getting a measly 1.3MB/s according to sysinfo, which I guess is to be expected on the original controller.

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..

..is there anything I need to do to get faster speeds or is that the best my system can do?

Thanks.

These are the speed results I am getting with and without the ide express jumpers set.

SysInfo (Bytes/Sec)
Jumpers Set: 6,553,600
Not Set:     2,276,800

SysSpeed Raw Read (Ops/Sec???)
Jumpers Set: 4.83
Not Set:     2.79

This is a A1200 OS3.9, MBX 1230XA (50Mhz/33Mhz), 128Mb Fast. The disk is a Maxtor Fireball 3 ATA 133 (40Gb) running a 3Gb partition.

James

[Chrome]

Fizzy wrote:

Chrome wrote:
What kind of speed is expected to get with A1200/030@50MHz/32MB fast/standard IDE with 4GB 133x CF ?

Sysinfo benchmarks on SFS-formatted drive 1.9MB/s, Diskspeed about the same with 512KB buffer.

That sounds about right for standard controller ide speeds.

I did change the CF for faster one; Sandisk ExtremeIII 4GB.  SysInfo shows  2.1GB/s ...Wow!

[allanmb]

To the OP, there are a LOT of counterfeit CF cards on the market which have lousy speeds - it could be that you have one of these dodgy cards?

[Fizzy]

allanmb wrote:
To the OP, there are a LOT of counterfeit CF cards on the market which have lousy speeds - it could be that you have one of these dodgy cards?

Hi,

It was bought from a very reputable on line shop (and not ebay etc) - and also tested on a pc it was getting a little over 20MB/s read speed, as stated previously.   :-D

Guess its just a compatability thing.