Hi all, I'm not sure where to ask this, but here goes: I have a 250 Gb HD with two ext3 partitions, one for the root fs and one for bulk storage. -------- [*rob] ~> fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sda1   *           1        9726    78124063+  83  Linux /dev/sda2            9727       29903   162071752+  83  Linux /dev/sda3           29904       30401     4000185   82  Linux swap / Solaris [*rob] ~> mount /dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw) proc on /proc type proc (rw) sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw) debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw) udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw) devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5) /dev/sda2 on /bulk type ext3 (rw) none on /proc/fs/vmblock/mountPoint type vmblock (rw) /dev/sr0 on /mnt type iso9660 (ro) -------- I'm running openSuse 10.2 with a kernel from the Kernel:Head repo (but not the latest 2.6.22-rc version). -------- [rob] ~> uname -a Linux rob 2.6.21-200-default #1 SMP Fri May 18 14:32:06 UTC 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux -------- My problem is that disk access to the /bulk partition is incredibly slow compared to the / partition. For example, testing with a 2 Gb file: -------- On /bulk (~/tmp2 is a symlink to /bulk/home/rob/tmp2) [rob] ~/tmp2> time cat bigfile.zip > /dev/null; time cat bigfile.zip

/dev/null; time cat bigfile.zip > /dev/null;

real    7m53.482s user    0m0.184s sys     0m2.152s real    7m44.993s user    0m0.136s sys     0m2.176s real    7m45.409s user    0m0.156s sys     0m2.256s On /: [rob] ~> time cat bigfile.zip > /dev/null; time cat bigfile.zip > /dev/null; time cat bigfile.zip > /dev/null; real    0m39.047s user    0m0.124s sys     0m1.640s real    0m38.795s user    0m0.116s sys     0m1.692s real    0m38.737s user    0m0.140s sys     0m1.516s -------- That's 8 minutes versus 40 seconds, and I can't come up with an explanation for that.. Different kernel versions have the same problem. My system is a Core2 6600 with 2 Gb of ram. Does anyone have an idea of what could be going on? Cheers!     Rob Some more details: -------- [rob] ~> df Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1             76896316  60086608  12903508  83% / udev                   1025152       108   1025044   1% /dev /dev/sda2            159527820 119590716  31833520  79% /bulk -------- [rob] ~> free              total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached Mem:       2050308    1999480      50828          0      32036    1475096 -/+ buffers/cache:     492348    1557960 Swap:      4000176          8    4000168 -------- [rob] ~> cat /proc/interrupts            CPU0       CPU1   0:         84          0   IO-APIC-edge      timer   1:      17680          0   IO-APIC-edge      i8042   6:          5          0   IO-APIC-edge      floppy   8:         13          0   IO-APIC-edge      rtc   9:          0          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   acpi  12:          4          0   IO-APIC-edge      i8042  16:      17695          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   libata  17:     518607          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   uhci_hcd:usb3, i915@pci:0000:00:02.0  18:          2          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ehci_hcd:usb1, uhci_hcd:usb7  19:     327982          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   libata, libata, uhci_hcd:usb6  20:      82275          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   uhci_hcd:usb4  21:        627          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ehci_hcd:usb2, uhci_hcd:usb5  23:        883          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   HDA Intel 218:      87385          0   PCI-MSI-edge      eth0 NMI:          0          0 LOC:    1771757    1771759 ERR:          0 MIS:          0 -------- [*rob] ~> hdparm -I /dev/sda /dev/sda: ATA device, with non-removable media         Model Number:       WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0         Serial Number:      WD-WCANKA547956         Firmware Revision:  02.01C03 Standards:         Supported: 7 6 5 4         Likely used: 7 Configuration:         Logical         max     current         cylinders       16383   16383         heads           16      16         sectors/track   63      63         --         CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064         LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455         LBA48  user addressable sectors:  488397168         device size with M = 1024*1024:      238475 MBytes         device size with M = 1000*1000:      250059 MBytes (250 GB) Capabilities:         LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)         Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum         R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 16         Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254         DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6              Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns         PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4              Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns Commands/features:         Enabled Supported:            *    SMART feature set                 Security Mode feature set            *    Power Management feature set            *    Write cache            *    Look-ahead            *    Host Protected Area feature set            *    WRITE_BUFFER command            *    READ_BUFFER command            *    NOP cmd            *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE                 Power-Up In Standby feature set            *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up                 SET_MAX security extension                 Automatic Acoustic Management feature set            *    48-bit Address feature set            *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set            *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE            *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT            *    SMART error logging            *    SMART self-test            *    General Purpose Logging feature set            *    SATA-I signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)            *    SATA-II signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)            *    Host-initiated interface power management            *    Phy event counters            *    Software settings preservation            *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set            *    SCT Long Sector Access (AC1)            *    SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2)            *    SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)            *    SCT Features Control (AC4)            *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)                 unknown 206[12] Security:         Master password revision code = 65534                 supported         not     enabled         not     locked                 frozen         not     expired: security count         not     supported: enhanced erase Checksum: correct -- 1.8026175e+12 furlongs per fortnight. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org