KILL YOUR

SPEED BEFORE
IT KILLS YOU
 Chapter 5B

Measuring and Improving Drive

Performance
The Need for Speed
• An important factor in measuring overall
system performance is the speed at which the
computer’s disk drives operate.
• Measures of drive performance generally are
applied to the computer’s hard disk but also
can be applied to other types of drives.
• Evaluation of the performance of common
storage devices; the average access time and
the data transfer rate.
Average Access Time
• The amount of time the device takes to move
its read or read/write heads to any spot on
the medium.
• An important measure of performance for
storage devices and memory.
• Even though memory chips have no moving
read/write head, it is still critical to know how
fast a memory system can locate a piece of
data on a chip.
• Measured in milliseconds (ms) for storage
devices, nanoseconds (ns) for memory
devices.
• Access time depends on a combination of two
factors: the speed at which a disk spins
(revolutions per minute, or rpm) and the time
it takes to move the heads from one track to
another.
• The maximum access time for diskettes is 0.2
second, or 200 milliseconds.
• The easiest way to determine the average
access time for a device is to check the
manufacturer's specifications.

Storage Average Access Time

Diskettes 100 ms
Hard Drives 6-12 ms
CD-ROM drives 80-800 ms
Tape Drive Few seconds to minutes
Data Transfer Rate
• The amount of time it takes for one device to
send data to another device.
• Time is measured in seconds, but units of data
may be measured in bytes, KB, MB, or GB.
Drive Speed
Hard Disks 15-80 MBps
CD-ROMs 300-900 KBps
Diskette 45 KBps
Removable 1.25 MBps
Optimizing Disk Performance
• Over time, a PCs performance can slow down.
• The computer may act sluggish in general or
slow down when performing specific tasks
such as loading or saving documents.
• When a PC slows down in this manner, some
hard-disk maintenance may fix the problem.
• Should get routine disk maintenance, or disk
optimization.
Cleanning Up Unnecessary Files
• Delete temp files (Newer versions of Windows
feature a built-in utility called Disk Cleanup)
• Uninstall unused programs
• Delete obsolete data files
• Files should be cleaned weekly

6B-9
Scan A Disk For Errors
• Bad spots on the media
– A disk error can be a bad spot on the disk’s
physical surface, or it can be a piece of data that
cannot be accounted for in the FAT.
• Find and fix the error
– Move data to a good spot
– Mark the spot as bad
• Disks should be scanned monthly

6B-10
Defragment A Disk
• Occurs when a file is stored in noncontiguous
sectors on the disk's surface. In other words,
pieces of files become scattered around on
the disk.
• Files fragment when resaved
• Fragmented files load slower
• Defragment puts the fragments together
• Disks should be defragged monthly
6B-11
 Defragment

6B-12
File Compression
• Shrinks the size of a file
• Takes up less space on disk
• Not necessarily reduce a disk's access time,
effectively increase disk capacity
• Can be compressed by as much as a 3:1 ratio
• Squeezes data into smaller chunks by
removing information that is not vital to the
file or data.
• PKZip, WinZip and WinRAR
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 File Compression

763 KB
on disk

Compressed
157 KB

6B-14
Drive-lnterface Standards
• Important factor in determining how quickly a
drive can read and write data
• Act as an intermediary between the drive and the
CPU.
• Enabling the drive to exchange data with other
devices.
• two drive-interface standards for built-in disk
drives: EIDE or SCSI.
• PC almost certainly feature one of these two
drive interfaces.
• Two other types of interface—Universal Serial
Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 (also known as FireWire)
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics
• Generic term for drive controllers
• Several names
– Fast IDE
– Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA)
• Up to 2 devices per controller
• Most computers have 2 EIDE controllers
• Latest version supports data transfer rate of
66 MBps
6B-16
Small Computer System Interface
• SCSI
• Higher transfer rates than EIDE
• More than 40 devices per SCSI controller
– Computers may have several SCSI controllers
• Many versions exist
– Versions are typically incompatible
• Found in servers and workstations
• Data transfer rate is 80 MBps
6B-17
USB and FireWire
• External drives
• Support high data transfer rates
• Allow the host computer to control an
external storage device as if it were an internal
one
• Many devices can be connected

6B-18