Very slow writing to SATA disk

[Mikhail Teterin]

> Indeed, 55C is way to high for 24/7 usage, and it might be that the  
> drive is choking on it and barely is able to compensate..

The reads are pretty quick... I'd like to be able to spin it down, but
ataidle is broken :-(

> What does SMART say ? any unusual like high correction rates or  
> anything ?

% atacontrol ad8
Protocol              Serial ATA v1.0
Serial ATA II
device model          HDS725050KLA360
serial number         KRVN02ZAG1SV7C
firmware revision     K2AOA11A
cylinders             16383
heads                 16
sectors/track         63
lba supported         268435455 sectors
lba48 supported       976773168 sectors
dma supported
overlap not supported

Feature                      Support  Enable    Value           Vendor
write cache                    yes      yes
read ahead                     yes      yes
Native Command Queuing (NCQ)   yes       -      31/0x1F
Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ)   no       no      31/0x1F
SMART                          yes      yes
microcode download             yes      yes
security                       yes      no
power management               yes      yes
advanced power management      yes      no      0/0x00
automatic acoustic management  yes      yes     128/0x80        128/0x80

% smartctl -a /dev/ad8
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     HDS725050KLA360
Serial Number:    KRVN02ZAG1SV7C
Firmware Version: K2AOA11A
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   7
ATA Standard is:  ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 1
Local Time is:    Fri Oct 28 17:42:16 2005 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                                        was completed without error.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever 
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:                 (10419) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                        power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:        (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        ( 174) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   100   100   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0004   159   159   050    Old_age   Offline      -       205
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   110   110   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       618 (Average 645)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       34
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000a   100   100   067    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0004   136   136   020    Old_age   Offline      -       31
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       691
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0012   100   100   060    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       32
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   050    Old_age   Always       -       62
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   100   100   050    Old_age   Always       -       62
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   105   105   000    Old_age   Always       -       52 (Lifetime Min/Max 22/62)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%         3         -
# 2  Short captive       Completed without error       00%         2         -

Warning! SMART Selective Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.