Do you have Seagate ST2000DM001? This 2TB drives seems OK at straight dd output, but seems absolutely terrible at random output. If you have one, and do not mind this destructive test (IT WILL DESTROY ANY DATA ON THAT DRIVE), please let me know the results.
The reason I ask is the very slow results we’re getting from a tool designed to test the throughput of an HDD based on writing data at various offsets. This helps to determine the physical block size of the device and judge throughput.
You can see the discussion and the results of my testing in my G+ post.
svn co http://svn.freebsd.org/base/user/des/phybs cd phybs make sudo ./phybs -rw -l 4096 -h 4096 /dev/YOURDEVICENAME
The output I’m getting is:
count size offset step msec tps kBps 32768 4096 0 16384 79116 414 1656 32768 4096 512 16384 102359 320 1280 32768 4096 1024 16384 225882 145 580 32768 4096 2048 16384 221047 148 592
1.6 MB/s is simply terrible. Please post your results in the comments. Thank you.
11:01 AM
Lots of details:
$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/ada2
smartctl 6.0 2012-10-10 r3643 [FreeBSD 9.1-RELEASE amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 (AF)
Device Model: ST2000DM001-1CH164
Serial Number: Z1E24L38
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 04f03a249
Firmware Version: CC24
User Capacity: 2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Fri Feb 8 16:00:35 2013 UTC
==< WARNING: A firmware update for this drive may be available,
see the following Seagate web pages:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207931en
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223651en
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 80) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 219) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x3085) SCT Status supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 101 100 006 Pre-fail Always - 3642680
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 099 099 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 3
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 030 Pre-fail Always - 76293
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 4
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 3
183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 0 0
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 074 073 045 Old_age Always - 26 (Min/Max 16/27)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 8
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 026 040 000 Old_age Always - 26 (0 16 0 0 0)
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0h+14m+52.945s
241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1048576
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1048873
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
11:04 AM
Yes, we have new firmware available as pointed out by Brodey Dover.
1:25 PM
I wish to highlight the following from the above smartctl output:
==< WARNING: A firmware update for this drive may be available, see the following Seagate web pages: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207931en http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223651en
It also seems that I can update the firmware using a bootable CD.
I can’t run a destructive test on mine, but it does appear to have much newer firmware
#smartctl -a /dev/pass0
smartctl 5.42 2011-10-20 r3458 [FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE-p3 amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: ST2000DM001-1CH164
Serial Number: Z1E1DWCZ
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 04e53a5ef
Firmware Version: CC43
User Capacity: 2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is: Sun Feb 10 05:40:23 2013 UTC
SMART support is: Available – device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 592) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 224) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x3085) SCT Status supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 119 100 006 Pre-fail Always – 205725520
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 098 098 000 Pre-fail Always – 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always – 4
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always – 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 063 060 030 Pre-fail Always – 2049760
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always – 3336
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always – 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always – 4
183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 0
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always – 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 0
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 0
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 097 097 000 Old_age Always – 3
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 078 072 045 Old_age Always – 22 (Min/Max 17/28)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 4
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 4
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 022 040 000 Old_age Always – 22 (0 17 0 0 0)
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always – 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline – 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always – 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline – 220851513330952
241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline – 8922361600
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline – 59140631
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
A follow up: No, there was no firmware upgrade available.
Isn’t it slow because of mis-alignment of the 4k sectors? When you have a 4k sector drive, like this one, you need to align all writes to multiples of 8 512 byte sectors.
The purpose of phybs is to find out if the drive is affected by block alignment and by what block size. One would expect the fastest throughput with the best alignment. In this case the highest throughput is 1656 kBps (or about 1.6 MB/s) with block size 4096 with offset zero 0.
And that’s just terrible.
Unfortunately, I can do no more tests on this drive. They’ve all been sent back.