Raising PC Mark 2002 HDD Score

MacNews · Post by **MacNews** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 4:16 pm

I ran PC Mark a couple of days ago, and I got what I think is a low score for my HDD. I have a Barracuda IV 40GB, is it because it only has 2MB cache?

I only got 819 points for my HDD.

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 5:53 pm

Hi MacNews, welcome

My link is broken right now, hopefully it'll come back soon. But anyway, if yer running Win2000, then you need to make sure DMA is on in the system control palette.

PS: what's behind the choice of your name?

MacNews · Post by **MacNews** » Sun Jan 26, 2003 11:07 pm

powergyoza wrote:Hi MacNews, welcome

My link is broken right now, hopefully it'll come back soon. But anyway, if yer running Win2000, then you need to make sure DMA is on in the system control palette.

PS: what's behind the choice of your name?

I'm running Win XP Pro, I'll try the DMA thanks. My name is a very long story.

JarsOfFart · Post by **JarsOfFart** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 6:39 pm

I have DMA enabled. Using a WD1000BB (Western Digital 100 gb with 2mb cache), my PCMark2002 HDD score is 1074.

Post by **Rusty075** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 7:08 pm

819 isn't that far off from what I've seen with my 'cuda. I average 900ish. Try running the test several times and taking an average. It also makes a big difference if your disk is nearly full (more than 75%) or fragmented.

Besides checking DMA in Windows also check your BIOS to make sure you're running DMA there and that its running at ATA100. I've seen factory new machines that arrived with the BIOS set to ATA33. (I won't mention company names, but it rythmes with "smell")

But realise that you'll never be as fast as a WD screamer, but you'll be quieter.

MacNews · Post by **MacNews** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:20 pm

I have DMA enabled. For my primary IDE it's "Ultra DMA mode 5" for my secondary IDE it's "Multi-Word DMA mode 2".

Post by **Rusty075** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:22 pm

Is the HDD on the primary IDE by itself, or is it Master/Slaved with an optical drive? If it is, move the optical to the secondary IDE.

MacNews · Post by **MacNews** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 1:00 pm

I know my harddrive is the primary master, I have to check about my CD-RW.

Jiffylush · Post by **Jiffylush** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 4:19 pm

I am running the 200gb w/ 8mb cache from wd {only 179 from compusa

}

pc mark hd = 1146
sandra = 32193

It is really not loud at all, I have three 20gb drives by wd and they are all much louder than this one. The only thing that sucks is that you have to use a seperate controller (that was included) to get over 137gb

MacNews · Post by **MacNews** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 3:46 pm

I'm going to run PC Mark a couple of more times, and see if there is any difference. I think my CD-RW is primary slave.