[ale] Linux in 1 GB RAM

Thu Jun 27 10:47:46 EDT 2013

Hi Boris,

These may NOT be relevant but I thought I'd throw them out there just in 
case.

1) Almost all new drives mfg after Jan 2011 have 4KB sectors (advanced 
format).  If the OS is writing to the drive in 512 byte mode, it can be 
much slower.  Google 4k site:ale.org for prior discussion on this about 
a year ago and some more recently.  It shouldn't be a problem with 
Ubuntu 12.04, but make sure your kernel is new enough to support 4K 
sectors.  Some of the data discussed previously is specific to windows 
but other parts are specific to linux as I run both systems.  You may 
find some of the discussion on SSD's to be relevant too, since SSD's 
have 4K sectors.  You can google ssd site:ale.org for info on that.  To 
my surprise, I recently bought a WD 1TB Black drive and found that it 
was not an advanced format drive, so the old style drives are still in 
the marketing channel.

Your partition boundaries on a 4K drive should be aligned to 1 MiB 
boundaries (or 2048 logical sectors).  This was discussed before.  You 
can use the WD Align tool, which is a free standing self booting 
program.  You can also use gparted, but don't use the one built into 
Ubuntu.  Get the new gparted ISO from their website.  The one in Ubuntu 
is obsolete.  Either of these programs can realign the partition 
boundaries.  The procedure with gparted is a bit odd, since they use an 
odd method for counting the space before and after a partition.  An 
article was linked in the prior discussions that mentions this.

These links may help.  Lots of it talks about Windows but some is about 
Linux.  The WD Align utility boots it's own OS, so it works either way.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5655
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5341
http://www.wdc.com/global/products/features/?id=7&language=1
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_4_KiB_sector_issues (3 years old)

2) You could run a non destructive read write test on the drive after 
mounting it as a second drive in the system.  sudo badblocks -nsv 
/dev/sdb (or whatever).  This will take a long time to run but may find 
some bad blocks.  The drive may actually run faster afterwards since the 
controller has had a chance to evaluate the health of each sector.  
Actually, I like to burn in a new drive by writing random data to the 
whole thing then run a non destructive read write test (or spinrite) on 
it a few times.  You can write various data patterns to the drive using 
the destructive write test of badblocks or with dd or a utility from the 
ultimate boot cd like copywipe.

3) You could have a bad sata cable or port.  Try a different cable and port.

4) Make sure the jumpers on the drive allow for maximum speed, either 
3Gbps or 6Gbps as applicable.  Usually, this means no jumper.  Also, 
make sure the jumpers are not set to alter the sector numbering or 
activate some sort of older compatibility mode.  Again, usually, this 
means no jumper, but you must read the label on the drive.

The user manual for WD sata drives can be found here, which provides a 
(little) bit of useful info.

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdretailkits&lang=en

Sincerely,

Ron

On 6/27/2013 7:45 AM, Boris Borisov wrote:
> Yesterday I found what causes this slowdown in Linux distros I have
> tried before. In general is a very slow access to hard drive which
> come  factory with the system. SATA 250 GB Western Digital some model.
> I hooked an old spare 13 GB IDE drive that I have for emergency cases
> and installation went fast and Linux worked as it should. Now I have
> to figure what is wrong:
>
> 1. Linux drivers for that particular chipset? The mainboard is build
> around ATI chipset.
>
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c00783614#N88
>
> 2. Bad SATA controller.
> 3. Bad hard drive.
>
> Suggestions would be appreciated!
>
> On 6/20/13, Boris Borisov<bugyatl at gmail.com>  wrote:
>    
>> Just had horrible experience with Ubuntu-12.04. Hours of install then
>> installed LXDE things got better, then unresponsible system when you
>> run Browser and software center together. Like you have Java script in
>> loop hanging around the system. Got mad and installed Knoppix. I would
>> say German engineering :)
>>
>> On 6/19/13, Jeff Hubbs<jhubbslist at att.net>  wrote:
>>      
>>> Why, Gentoo of course, but then again I run Gentoo on everything I can
>>> get my hands on (or used to).
>>>
>>> If you are limited to 1GiB RAM - and I have been before - you may be a
>>> bit swap-dependent; I'd encourage putting swap on its own drive and that
>>> drive on its own IDE controller; might want to test out any loose drives
>>> you have lying around with bonnie++ and seeing which ones do random
>>> read-writes the fastest.
>>>
>>> On 6/18/13 10:47 AM, Boris Borisov wrote:
>>>        
>>>> Whay distro would you install in 1 GB
>>>> I used to run Kde 1 and Netscape in 64 MB but those days are long
>>>> gone. Is for Windows user that got his recovery CDs lost. I will try
>>>> with Linux
>>>> Dual core Pentium D.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Sent from Gmail Mobile
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>        
>>      
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>    

-- 

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