Maxtor 30GB HDD is slow

[rgodart 0]

I got a 30GB 7200rpm maxtor drive on a promise pci ata100 controller. I benchmarked it with sisoft sandra and i got scores below ata66 (i don't remember the exact score, i believe it was around 18000.

i believe a ata100 drive should have around 25000 points. First i thought it was because of the pci controller, i thought it wouldn't be as good as a built in controller on the motherboard. But then a few weeks ago i bougth a samsung 5400rpm backup drive 40GB and put it on the same controller on the same cable a the maxtor in slave, and this one has a score of 24500 in sisoft...Pretty weird, the maxtor should be faster with that RPM.

Anyone knows what's going on here?

I'm using win2kpro but i had the same prob in winxp.

 

My prehistoric system:

 

P3 800EB

abit be6-2 rev1

512 MB RAM

hercules gamesurround fortissimo 2

elsa geforce3ti200

[Palos 0]

Maybe you're using an old ATA33 cable, with 40 pins instead of 80.

[rgodart 0]

No i'm using the cable that was supplied with the controllercard. The samsung drive is connected to the same cable and it performs allright.

[eepok 0]

HOLY CRAP!!!

I'm having the same problem with my 30GB 7200 ATA100 Maxtor drive!!

What I've tried so far:

1)make sure hard disk controller setting are set to "DMA if available"

2)Make sure SP2 is installed

3)check cables (I'm using ATA66 cables but my board can only go as high as ATA66)

4)Make sure BIOs is set to recognize EVERYTHING automatically inclunding PIO MODE.

5)used the 66to100.exe utility provided at www.maxtor.com to downgrade the HDD's firmware to default no higher than UDMA mode 4 (ATA66) *NOTE*This worked the first time, but after I installed a second HDD, the Maxtor will no longer leave PIO mode *End Note*

6)Installed the latest BIOS

 

If you have any questions or want advice, feel free to email me being that I dont oft visit this forum

[eepok 0]

THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED!!!

Thanks to the amazingly dedicated geeks like myself at Lockergnome, I found out the my primary slave (CDRW) was slowing down the whole ide cable!

I just put both my HDDs on the primary cable and the dvd and CDRW on the secondary!! ALL is good now!!

 

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!