very slow writes to NTFS partitions

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1

I have two ntfs partitions I use to store music and data. I’ve been using them in all my linux boxes without any problems. Simply use Ntfs-3g with noatime and everything works great.
However, since the update to OpenSuse 11.3 writing to my NTFS partitions takes FOREVER. I’ve specified noatime, relatime and norelatime successively without success. The partitions have plenty of space and are defragmented.

When copying large files, It starts fast at first, but in the last hundred MB it slows down to about 1.5MB/s. Even after the transfer is supposedly done, the HD led remains on and all other read/write activity involving the partition is completely halted.
This can take between 5 minutes to 10 or more depending on the size of the file. When copying several small files, (100 MB or less) it starts at about 1.5MB/s from the beginning. >:(

I have absolutely no Idea what can be causing this…any insights would be appreciated.

Thank you

Note: I have the latest versions of fuse and ntfs-3g installed

2

Does it make a difference it you mount the nfs shared partition with the following options :
mount -t nfs -o rsize=32768,wsize=32768 ?

3

Im sorry I think I wasn’t clear, when I said all my linux boxes, I meant all my distros,I have suse, debian and fedora plus windows 7.on the same machine. The partitions are not accessed over a network.It’s all on the same computer.

4

I was doing some massive transfers yesterday to ntfs and was getting 30+mb sec
To ext4 I had 54mb sec

openSUSE 11.3 gnome

5

My mistake. You wrote ‘NTFS’ and I read ‘NFS’

6

Maybe defragmenting your NTFS partition under Windows wouldn’t hurt.

7

On 2010-08-30 17:36, Hanzdersion wrote:

> I have absolutely no Idea what can be causing this…any insights would
> be appreciated.
>
> Thank you
>
> Note: I have the latest versions of fuse and ntfs-3g installed

Writing to ntfs is cpu intensive in linux… If your CPU is not fast enough it is noticeable, but
during the entire operation, not at the end, like yours.

I would check the disk for errors, using “smartctl” or the HD manufacturer tool.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” GM (Elessar))

8

Do you have windows on that machine? You could try to enable disk write caching in device manager.
Not sure, but there could be some options for this in bios too.

9

The partitions structure was damaged/corrupted/affected somehow, I formatted(low level format) the HD and recreated the partitions. Now everything works perfect. I’m getting constant 54MB/s speeds with noatime.

Thank you.

I am in love with my Open Suse KDE 4.3 box and now I can fully enjoy it. :slight_smile: