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List:       opensuse
Subject:    [opensuse] Mysteriously slow ext3 partition.
From:       Rob Kramer <robk () starhub ! net ! sg>
Date:       2007-06-27 11:53:51
Message-ID: 200706271953.51598.robk () starhub ! net ! sg
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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


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