Low performance when moving/copying files

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Raniz · Post by **Raniz** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:50 am

Whenever I move or copy files using Konqueror, Krusader or command line (mv & cp) my cpu usage goes up to 100% and transfer rates average on about 5-8MB/s.

I'm running 2.6.10-nitro4 and hdparm tells me that dma is enabled on both my disks.

Any ways to make things faster?

gimpel · Post by **gimpel** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 12:14 pm

are you using reiser4?
if so, it's because of staircase cpu scheduler. it sucks pretty much in combo with reiser4..

8Shadow8 · Post by **8Shadow8** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 12:23 pm

I think i have the same problem. I'm useing a 64 bit Gentoo on my 64bit notebook. Everything works fine, but when i'm extracting or copying files on my hdd i can't even move my mouse. It seems like the cpu is 100% used and nothing else works. So i even can't play a mp3 and extract a file at the same time with my 64bit system. But 2 or 3 compilations at the same time + mp3 is no problem.

[UK]Superdude · Post by **[UK]Superdude** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:03 am

gimpel wrote:are you using reiser4?
if so, it's because of staircase cpu scheduler. it sucks pretty much in combo with reiser4..

Can you elaborate on this a bit more? I am quite interested....

gimpel · Post by **gimpel** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:40 am

[UK]Superdude wrote:
gimpel wrote:are you using reiser4?
if so, it's because of staircase cpu scheduler. it sucks pretty much in combo with reiser4..
Can you elaborate on this a bit more? I am quite interested....

well, staircase seems to have some heavy interactivity issues when used on reiser4 system, or the other way round: reiser4 has probs with staircase... this results in very high cpu usage, latency and lockups...
that was dicussed and testet in vivid-sources thread:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-19 ... t-300.html

8Shadow8 · Post by **8Shadow8** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:09 pm

I'm using ext3, not reiserfs...

bollucks · Post by **bollucks** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:51 pm

8Shadow8 wrote:I'm using ext3, not reiserfs...

This one sounds like one of those dma problems or a poorly configured IDE driver...

8Shadow8 · Post by **8Shadow8** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:43 pm

bollucks wrote:
8Shadow8 wrote:I'm using ext3, not reiserfs...
This one sounds like one of those dma problems or a poorly configured IDE driver...

Is there anyway to find out what it is, or to correct it?

srlinuxx · Post by **srlinuxx** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:49 pm

I've been seeing this too with reiserfs and or ext3 since moving to my newest install. 2.6.10 kernel with nptl, udev, and xorg and kde. It's really bad here if moving something kinda large and/or compressed from reiser to ext3, I thought my computer had froze up a couple times.

Raniz · Post by **Raniz** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:59 pm

gimpel wrote:are you using reiser4?
if so, it's because of staircase cpu scheduler. it sucks pretty much in combo with reiser4..

Not reiser4 but reiserfs...

Don't know what scheduler nitro4 uses... but it's ck-based, isn't it?

gimpel · Post by **gimpel** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:25 pm

yes it is!

but: forget what i said at all!
somehow i overread it's 2.6.10, not .11-rcX.. that staircase vs. reiser4 issue only affects the 2.6.11-rcX versions...
shame on me

already tried a different kernel? plain vanilla or gentoo-dev or love/vivid whatever...
do you have dma enabled on you disks?
idebus freq settings are ok?

Raniz · Post by **Raniz** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:27 pm

I'm going to try some other patchsets right now...

Raniz · Post by **Raniz** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:53 pm

Now this is odd...

Code: Select all

atron # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:   548 MB in  2.00 seconds = 273.49 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   68 MB in  3.14 seconds =  21.67 MB/sec
Megatron # hdparm -tT /dev/hdb

/dev/hdb:
 Timing cached reads:   596 MB in  2.01 seconds = 297.01 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   84 MB in  3.06 seconds =  27.49 MB/sec

Still using 2.6.10-nitro4...

If hdparm can read that fast... why can't all apps do that?

Is there an easy way to measure the write-speed of the disks?

Raniz · Post by **Raniz** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:24 pm

Using 2.6.11-rc4-love1 now...
Still the same slow transfer rates... But the kernel change has made my computer more responsive

superboy2k · Post by **superboy2k** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:25 pm

Raniz wrote:Using 2.6.11-rc4-love1 now...
Still the same slow transfer rates... But the kernel change has made my computer more responsive

I've the same problem!! I tried everything change all hardware (mb, nic)
The pc is a 440Bx board, 256Mb, Celeron 450, ultrastard 10k disk:

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 480 MB in 2.01 seconds = 238.25 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 104 MB in 3.03 seconds = 34.35 MB/sec

it seams like pci performances sucks, i don't know what is it, i'll try an old kernel if is in portage

...

superboy2k · Post by **superboy2k** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:26 pm

Raniz wrote:Using 2.6.11-rc4-love1 now...
Still the same slow transfer rates... But the kernel change has made my computer more responsive

I've the same problem!! I tried everything change all hardware (mb, nic)
The pc is a 440Bx board, 256Mb, Celeron 450, ultrastard 10k disk:

/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 480 MB in 2.01 seconds = 238.25 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 104 MB in 3.03 seconds = 34.35 MB/sec

it seams like pci performances sucks, i don't know what is it, i'll try an old kernel if is in portage

...

Low performance when moving/copying files

Low performance when moving/copying files

Pci sucks

Pci sucks