SuSE Linux: All versions
/sbin/hdparm
command (package: base).
After you've found the optimal settings, you can include the
corresponding /sbin/hdparm commands into your
/sbin/init.d/boot.local, e.g. like this:
echo -en "\nboot.local: Tuning the IDE hard disks..."
if [ -x /sbin/hdparm ]
then
# Put the hdparm commands HERE
else
echo " FAILED: /sbin/hdparm not found."
fi
Tip: A popular hard disk benchmark is
bonnie. You can use it to estimate the results
of your tuning measures. SuSE Linux version 6.3 and newer
contain bonnie in an equally-named package.
The original home page is
http://www.textuality.com/bonnie.
A description of some particularly useful options follows. See the
hdparm manual page for the complete overview.
You should read it anyway before going into action,
in particular the warnings!
hdx represents your IDE disk (replace it with
hda, hdb ... as needed):
hdparm -i /dev/hdx
Provides the settings of /dev/hdx as the
IDE driver in the kernel sees them.
hdparm -I /dev/hdx
Provides the settings of /dev/hdx by asking
the hard drive directly.
hdparm -m /dev/hdx resp.
hdparm -m nnn /dev/hdx
Queries / sets the number of sectors accessed for each interrupt
issued for /dev/hdx.
Feasible values for nnn are: 0 (deactivates multi-sector
access) or a power of 2 (2,4,8,16,...) up to the maximal allowed
value given by MaxMultSect= in the output of
hdparm -I /dev/hdx.
Note: Activating multi-sector access is generally favourable.
However, the biggest value for nnn isn't
necessarily the best one! Some trial and benchmarking is recommended.
hdparm -c /dev/hdx resp.
hdparm -c n /dev/hdx
Queries / sets the 32 bit data transfer between the bus and the
IDE controller (n=0: deactivated; n=1 :
activated).
Generally, activating 32 bit transfer provides better performance. Again, trial and benchmarking is recommended for each individual hard disk.
hdparm -d /dev/hdx resp.
hdparm -d n /dev/hdx
Queries / sets using DMA for the data transfer (n=0:
deactivated; n=1 : activated).
Virtually all modern IDE disks support data transfer via DMA
(Check: output of hdparm -I /dev/hdx).
This reduces CPU load considerably and might result in a dramatic
performance increase! As usual, trial and benchmarking is
recommended for each individual hard disk.