I just got a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB external hard drive. I was excited about it because it has an eSATA port, and so does my mobo. So thinking I'd finally get to utilized my computer's eSATA capabilities and that backing things up would be so much quicker, I spent the extra money on the drive and an eSATA cable (drive didn't come with one ).
I got everything up and running and started to transfer some stuff to the drive, but it seemed to me the transfers were going a lot slower than they should. After all, eSATA boasts speeds of 3GB/s.
So I downloaded a little app called HD Tune to test my transfer rates, and here's what I got:
with eSATA connected - 20.5MB/s burst
with USB2.0 connected - 25.6MB/s burst
What the hell is going on here? Not only is the eSATA not moving very fast, but the USB is actually faster than it!
The only thought I had is that either my computer doesn't have it's eSATA configured correctly, or I bought a bum eSATA cable.
Here is the cable I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/36IN-Esata-Signal-Cable-7PIN/dp/B000IAJZ76/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1416624-5455203?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1178737372&sr=8-1
and here is a link to my mobo info:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/p5wd2/
Does anyone know what might be going on?
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General discussion
my eSATA is transferring slower than USB??
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1 - 30 of 40 Posts
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just noticed your mobo has eSATA port.
Have you flashed latest BIOS and installed all mobo drivers, incl. RAID SATA driver?
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Yeah I just flashed the latest BIOS and the Sata drivers haven't been updated in 2 years according to the asus downloads page, so I have all those.
Seems odd that the mobo would have an eSATA port just because, and not actually have it working to eSATA standards
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the Disk Drive Policies to 'Optimize for Performance' and 'Enable write caching on the disk' in XP Device Manager. If set as such, DON'T hot-plug/unplug or you risk losing data. Also partition the disk as extended and format the logical drive in NTFS for better security and data integrity.
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Something fishy is going on. In addition to my onboard SATA II 3.0 Gbps ports, I am using a Promise SATA150 TX4 PCI adapter, which only has a 1.5 Gbps transfer rate (long story why I am using the old controller, so I won't go into it). I attached two drives to this adapter: a Seagate 320 GB ST3320620AS SATA II 7200.10 internal drive, and the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500 GB drive via an eSata back panel adapter. I am using Linux on a Core 2 Quad Q6600 system, so raw power is not likely to be a limiting factor.
I first noticed the speed differential when I ran a large copy (31 GB) to each drive. The FreeAgent drive was a LOT slower, IIRC, 23 minutes vs 10 minutes. I then ran timings, with all OS buffering disabled, using the Linux hdparm utility. I decided that I would time the transfer rate from the disk on-board cache, to factor out variations. The command I used was
hdparm --direct -T /dev/sdX
I was very disturbed to see that the FreeAgent Pro consistently did read transfers about 46% slower than the 320 GB drive - ON THE SAME CONTROLLER. Specifically, about 86 MB/s for the 320GB and about 68 MB/s for the FreeAgent Pro. Now this is supposed to be reading directly from the drive's cache, which should return the maximum transfer rate of the drive electronics, regardless of the disk's mechanical characteristics.
Just for comparison, I ran the same command for the same 320 GB model, but on a SATA II 3.0 Gb/s on-board internal port. The transfer rate for that was 200 MB/s!! I have not tried the FreeAgent Pro on a SATA II port, but I suspect it will not fare a lot better.
Finally, I ran some diagnostics on the drives, and the FreeAgent Pro does not have NCQ (the 320 GB model does). I don't know if this would make a significant difference. It *is* a SATA II 3.0 Gbps drive, so that's not the issue. One way or another, I am sorely disappointed and am going to return the drive. Pity - it is pretty looking, and big, but why is it so slow?
I am wondering if Seagate decided to save on costs and is using the same (slow) back-end circuitry for both the USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors? Maybe their marketing people thought it was a good selling point to include eSATA, but who uses eSATA anyway? By the time enough people were actually using eSATA to notice, they would have brought out a new model that really does run at SATA II speeds. Maybe I am just being too cynical.
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I'm just going to have to live with this BS, since it's too late to return it now.
Could you explain to me how you set it up so that it's doing 68mb/s? even that is better than what I'm getting right now.
all I know is seagate just lost a customer
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While this might seem obvious to some people, others might go "What? That could make a difference?" Are you leaving the drive connected to the USB port, while you're trying to use the eSATA connection? If so, it might be defaulting to the slower connection, or somesuch. If you've already tried only connecting one port at a time, then I don't know what else to try. This might be in the same category of questions as "is it plugged in", but I can see how someone might not think of this as a potential issue.
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The problem may be with your external hard drive. First, be sure you have your Operating system up to date with the latest updates, latest bios update, etc, and check to see if your system recognizes the sata mode of the drive. I would also think that the file systems should match, HTFS file system of your computer to HTFS file system of your External hard drive, not sure if this would make any difference, but it may. I have a WD my book and am debating switching from USB 2.0 to eSATA.
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A standard drive with some electronics to have USB and eSATA ports? Or a SATA drive with some electronics to add a USB port?
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/pcperipherals/accessories/0,39053287,40574900p-2,00.htm didn't test the eSATA speed, but they 'expect' it to be much higher.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129566/article.html notes 80 seconds for 3 Gb of files and folders in eSATA mode, but doesn't mention USB speed. And just a bunch of files isn't the best speed test imaginable, of course.
Anyway, you've got a perfect point when returning it. The product data sheet on their website (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent_pro_data_movers/) just mentions the theoretical maximum (480 Mb/s for USB, 3 Gb/s for eSata) under the heading "performance spec". They surely can't deliver that, so whatever it is, it's not a performance spec, as your measurements show.
Hope you find the problem, however. It's a nice looking drive.
Kees
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I bought this drive from Dell, and their policy is 21 days or less for a return. It's been much longer than that, so I don't really think I have any recourse.
Just stuck with a mediocre drive that sucked me in because it was flashy.
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I have a via sata card and a 500gb free agent drive and my sata port is the slowest thing on earth. I returened the first one cause it was crashing and stoped working, and the new one is slow and basically comes to a hault almost for a long while before it finishes.
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I had the same problem before. I upgraded the firmware using http://support.seagate.com/rightnow/downloads/FA_Pro_eSATA_Update.zip and it helped a bunch. Now I get 40MB/s average and 79MB/s burst rates (as per HD Tune). Make sure you follow all the steps given in the PDF.
Also, I had to turn off the drive for like 30sec before re-using it after the upgrade. Any other solution around?
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I'll give the firmware upgrade a try, thanks for posting it.
Hopefully it will do something positive.
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I have the same problem with my Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB eSATA drive. After 2 hours on phone with level 2 support (half of the time I was on hold)... the stupid level 2 support rep. suggested that I go out and buy a eSATA controller and not use the one that's built onto my motherboard (Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe). I asked him about the firmware upgrade and he said that it probably would not help and I should take his advice and buy a dedicated eSATA controller and give support a call back if I am still experiencing the same issue. I told him he's an idiot and hung up on him.
Anyways... my FreeAgent's firmware is currently at 40.0A. What's the new firmware version? And what transfer rates are you getting with it?
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I upgraded the firmware like you did, and now it's getting gaster speeds, but not as fast as you've put down. I only get like 42mb/s burst
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what's the new firmware version?? i have yet to upgrade because it will only work on an xp machine... i have vista installed. i'm trying to get my hands on an xp machine... but want to know if the firmware upgrade is higher than 40.0A.
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Ok... so after talking on the phone with Seagate... they said not to use the eSATA to internal sata bracket. There's some weird stuff they cannot account for with that bracket. If you want to achieve the drive's full potential... you will need to get a true eSATA controller. I didn't like that answer... but I caved and went out to my local Fry's and got a PCI Express x1 eSATA controller (SI3132 chipset). Sure enough... it worked out for me. I had a Foxconn 6150B motherboard and was using a bracket. I was getting 30MB/sec sustained transfer rate and the drive was erroring out after waking my computer up from sleep. Connected it to the PCI Express x2 eSATA controller... I get a sustained transfer rate of about 49 MB/sec and it works just fine after waking up from sleep.
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Isn't that an update for your SATA drivers?
http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/Driver/SATA/SiliconImage/SATA_SiliconImage_V10190_V32.zip
Check the content of that link before installing anything. I found it by looking up drivers for the P5WD2 on support.asus.com.
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Hi, I just got the 750 ... and this eSATA cable I bought from Frys is a total piece of crap. I have to really push hard for it to actually stay connected... with HDTune I was getting about 50Mb/sec initially but again with having to hold the connector in is NOT the way to go for me. Can you tell me where did *ALL OF YOU* get your eSATA cables that WORK? (Online links would be handy) I dont want to have to make a dozen trips to different computer stores to try out eSATA cables...
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Just do a search of eSATA cable. Frankly I'm wondering if my cable is maybe the problem. I'm not really sure how or why there would be different types of eSATA cables, but it could be. I just got one that was a good price and looked decent, but it had no packaging that described anything really.
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My 79MB/s burst and 40MB/s average was from the FreeAgent to my Western Digital 120GB IDE HDD. I do believe you would need to work from a SATA drive to get the full speed (300MB/s).
When I get some time I'll try to use an older IDE drive on a SATA converter and see if it improves anything. I do believe the max speed for IDE is 133 as opposed to 300 for the SATA, but my guess is most of the slow speed problem comes from the conversion from one standard to the other. If anybody has tried that already (or simply has a SATA drive), please let me know!!!
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My internal drive is a Seagate 300gb sata drive. So that shouldnt make a difference.
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I just bought FreeAgent Pro 750GB USB/1394/eSata unit yesterday, looking forward to faster backups and faster large file transfer. I do some video editing and 3 - 10 GB files are not unusual. My primary interest was eSata - USB2 and FireWire are ok, but......
This thing flat out sucks. I read these postings, tried the firmware upgrade, and no joy. See www.precise.ca/esata for test results. I thought after the firmware upgrade it started to look pretty good, but then tried my real world test - transfer 2 large .avi totalling 3.3 GB. Took 2:22 on USB2; 2:04 on FireWire, and an astounding 12 minutes and 44 saeconds with eSata......that's after the firmware upgrade. I was so puzzled I ran HD Tune again, and totally different results - 2.5 MB/sec min, max, avg AND burst. I don't know where to begin to look at this point.
System is a 4 year old Shuttle SB65G2 with on board sata support - I have a 160GB Seagate Sata as my main (and only) harddrive in the box. I'm connecting to the FreeAgent with one of those adapter dealies that connects to the Sata connector on the main board and out through the case to an eSata connector. Drive seems to work ok, and seems to be recognized, but sloooooowwwwww.
Any ideas?
Thx.....Randy
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Out of curiosity, would you guys mind posting your internal hard drives speeds so we can compare?
Please use HD Tune so we start from a common basis and list your internal hard drive type (IDE, SATA, magnetic tape?!), average speed and burst speed and same for your FreeAgent.
Because after messing around with my FreeAgent on a SATA to eSATA bracket, I get: 45MB/s average, 82MB/s burst.
My IDE drive gives me: 52MB/s average, 91MB/s burst.
I also ran HD Tune on a laptop (VAIO with Intel T5500, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD) and got: 32MB/s average, 92MB/s burst. Not really sure it's comparable since I don't really know how laptops work.
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Transfer Rates:
Minimum: 38.1MB/s
Maximum: 84.4MB/s
Average: 65.9MB/s
Burst: 108.1MB/s
Hard Drive: WD400AAKS (SATA 3.0)
Enclosure: Adaptec ACS300 (SATA 3.0)(Also USB 2.0)
eSATA Connector: Rosewill 'External e-SATA 2Port Bracket'
Motherboard: Asus A8N Sli Deluxe (SATA 1.5)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64X2 4800+
RAM: 2 GB OCZ DDR400
HD Tune V2.53
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HD Tune: ST3300831AS Benchmark
Transfer Rate Minimum : 9.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 58.9 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 48.3 MB/sec
Access Time : 15.1 ms
Burst Rate : 102.7 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 5.9%
HD Tune: ST3300831AS Information
Firmware version : 3.03
Serial number : 5NF0F4Y6
Capacity : 279.5 GB (~300.1 GB)
Buffer size : 8192 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-7 - SATA I
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 6 (Ultra ATA/133)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Also...
What exactly do you mean by "Because after messing around with my FreeAgent on a SATA to eSATA bracket..." If this boosts rates, maybe you could elaborate so I could give it a try?
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In this link, he mentions that with an internal SATA port, the mere act of adding a SATA to eSATA bracket and second cable can be enough to reduce the SATA signal strength to a point where SATA II (3 GB/s) speeds cannot be achieved. He jumpered his drive to SATA I (1.5 GB/s) and that made a big difference. This explains why buying a separate eSATA adapter works better. It's apparently not Seagate's fault at all (the drive in the above article is a WD). It seems that the onboard SATA connectors often just don't have enough grunt to drive the bracket/second cable properly. I wonder if anyone makes a bracket that has a built-in signal booster?
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