[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
I did have a long list of tests to attach here, but using dstat over the last couple of hours it appears that one of my drives that is connected via eSATA might be faulty. Until last week when I purchased a new 640GB I was using it (WD 500GB ext4) as my desktop drive and prior to that as my server drive. I got the following from a transfer test of the 500GB WD drive: 2906193920 bytes (2.9 GB) copied, 62.6089 s, 46.4 MB/s Which seems OK. However in my tests I've found that the eSATA slowdown is occurring only when reading from this particular drive, not when writing to it. I've tested several other WD drives, none of which are showing any slowdowns in reading or writing over eSATA. For now, eSATA is off the hook as being involved in this problem and I will dispose of the 500GB drive once I've got the rest of my data off it. I'll begin testing USB and network transfers tomorrow. Potentially, this drive could have been involved in a lot of the performance problems since much of my copying is from flash to desktop to server and back in the reverse order. I'll need to do more testing. In the meantime, I can't thank you enough Theodore Ts'o for explaining that performance test and dstat. I wish someone had suggested it a year ago... I've attached a copy of the dstat from reading the 500GB drive for reference. ** Attachment added: "dstat from what is likely a faulty 500GB drive (sdb3)" http://launchpadlibrarian.net/26928395/dstat.txt -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
Forgot to mention, that dstat is for the destination drive only. I'm also not seeing as much of a slowdown if I copy from the source to the internal drive, then to the destination drive. -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
Theodore, thanks for the info. I don't have a lot of time this morning before work, but I was able to run one test which illustrates the problem. In the attached dstat output, I copied 3.4GB between two eSATA HDD. It started off fast (as usual), but by the time the copy finished the dialog was showing about 5.5MB/s. I'll look into it more later today. ** Attachment added: "dstat.txt" http://launchpadlibrarian.net/26910849/dstat.txt -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
No, it's not Ubuntu specific and Canonical didn't cause it. Right now I'm copying between two SATA drives, connected to my PC via eSATA. So far a lousy 600MB has been copied and I'm already down to 5MB/s and falling. Here is what I know about the problem: It affects ALL hardware. It affects ALL file copying connections to varying degrees: USB, network, SATA/eSATA. In some instances, it also affects multitasking, all but locking the computer up despite little to no CPU use in System Monitor. There are no error logs, messages or anything else that occur when the problem is happening. In my experience, if you test for the problem and nothing seems to be wrong, then that's because you aren't copying enough data, you don't know how fast your hardware should be copying files, or you are lucky enough to only be subtly affected that time. Try copying more multi- gigabytes of data, several times and see if you can't get wildly different durations for the same data size. As I state above, all hardware I have tested is affected to varying degrees, some hardware shows minor performance degradation over time, some hardware is all but useless for file copying. If you ask me, it's either the scheduler (GUI lockups with no CPU usage makes me think this) or whatever performs the actual file copy process. It's definitely not a USB problem because it affects network copying too. -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
I've finished reinstalling and testing 32bit 8.10. The problem seems to be greatly diminished. Once I had all my software installed (system updates, Thunderbird, VMWare, restricted extras, nfs driver, nVidia driver) Firefox was showing some symptoms of running slower on Slashdot, but nowhere near as bad as it had been under 64bit - I assume that it's Java related from the restricted extras. File transfer over the network has improved. I'm finding that it's still hit and miss when it comes to speed, however I have yet to see it gradually slowing down while copying. A file may start slowly (the lowest I've seen in my tests was about 4MB/s, up from 1.8MB/s previously) but over the duration it will remain stable or increase slightly. The first few files (each about 700MB in size) that are copied to my server after mounting the device are typically getting 9MB/s to 11MB/s in bursts. chris larsen: I have previously found a link between re-mounting a device and resetting it's copying speed, so I'm not surprised you are seeing an improvement there. -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
I took a chance and reinstalled my system with 32 bit 8.10, as suggested. I've done some quick testing and my USB devices are operating much faster, and the speed remains stable. Additionally, the whole system is *far* more responsive. Previously, I couldn't even use Firefox because it was too slow on certain web pages like Slashdot, with problems like scrolling down an article taking up to a minute due to incredibly sluggish screen redrawing. Previously doing simply things would also max out a single CPU core, however now the CPU is barely being hit unless I do something that is actually CPU intensive. It's early days and I still need to install everything I use day to day, and do some more testing, but it would certainly seem that this is a bug in the 64 bit kernel that is affecting the whole system, but presenting most obviously as a file copying problem. Maybe it's multi-tasking related? I'll report back when I've done some more testing. -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
I just noticed that vmware is loading way faster now, down from about 3 minutes to 20 seconds to open a 768MB RAM virtual machine. That's a major improvement. Copying is still broken though. -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
Yes, I rebooted and no, I don't have a performance option in the bios. -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfers on USB disk are very slow
"noatime, nodirtime" hasn't improved the situation on my PC much, if at all. Copying speed is still all over the place, one time it'll copy fine, the next it stalls every couple of megabytes, blocking file i/o to any other device connected to the system and stalling the gui. I've noticed that it affects devices differently. The following are listed in order of most likely stall to least likely: network file transfers, my collection of USB flash drives, 1" USB HDD, 3.5" USB HDD. Maybe it's device speed related? For those trying to escalate the problem, I hit a brick wall last year trying to do the same. I was basically told to give it up because it's going to take a kernel developer who has been afflicted by the bug, and who notices it, to fix it. Well, that, and I don't know the secret handshake that gets things done... -- file transfers on USB disk are very slow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs
I never got around to reinstalling. Rather than waste any more time on this, I've moved on to the 8.10 beta. File copying is improved on my system, but it's still not working reliably. I've been copying some data (about 30GB for each test) from my local USB drive to the my network server and I'm still experiencing a gradual slowdown over time, however it's taking a lot longer to slow down than it did under Hardy, and instead of locking the whole computer up for the duration, only file access is being periodically blocked. Any applications that were open prior to when the copy commenced remain usable. Overall, the experience is still highly erratic, sometimes a copy works at full speed, sometimes it stalls. It's a lot better than it was though. -- file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs
Savvas Radević, there's nothing to post, nothing is added to dmesg other than the usual USB messages when plugging it in. This is the reason why it's attached to gvfs even though nobody is sure what is causing it. I tried formatting my laptop yet again and stuck on the new Hardy .1 release. It's been more stable, maintaining higher speeds without the boot option. Maybe it's a configuration issue during the install? I'm going to try formatting my desktop machine again to see if I can get any improvement, but first I'll need to do a full backup and that's going to take a while... I'll report back when I get enough spare time to have a go . -- file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs
My pci=routeirq helped, but didn't turn out to be everything I hoped for. I can get away with copying a few GB of files now before the slowdown sets in, but it's still happening. The pattern is slightly different with this tweak however, since it seems to be copying fine for a certain number of files, then it'll start on the next file and the slowdown will start. If this issue isn't related to gvfs, then shouldn't it be assigned elsewhere? It'd be nice if we could narrow down exactly which package was causing this. My vote at the moment is the kernel because of the improvement I've experienced from changing the boot options, but I'm hardly qualified. -- file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs
I seem to have happened upon a "solution". I added pci=routeirq to the grub boot options and I got my USB and network performance back, and the GUI is actually *usable* while copying files too I haven't run extensive tests, but I've been able to copy simultaneously over the network and to two USB devices at the same time with the transfer speed remaining constant, near the speed that I've been expecting (for so long), and I've done that repeatedly. That simply was impossible previously. Over time I checked for this problem on three computers, and found it on all of them. Coincidentally, the three affected computers are all dual core AMD systems no more than 18 months old running various nVidia chipsets from various manufacturers. This problem needs to be investigated because I can't be so unlucky as to have seen this bug so often and yet have the bug be one that "only some people get". Many more users out there must be experiencing this on a daily basis and thinking that "Ubuntu can't copy files properly", not realising that there's something wrong, and getting more and more frustrated, as I have been. -- file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 197762] Re: file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs
I'm going to add a bit more that might be useful because this bug is driving me crazy. It affects both my systems, one a laptop, the other a brand new desktop I purchased two weeks ago and is happening on both USB and network file transfers (via either Samba or UFS to my NAS box). I've also been experiencing occasional degraded GUI performance if I let a very large file copy (three GB or more) continue. My PC would gradually become un- responsive to the point that mouse clicks and key presses took seconds to be recognised and windows were being redrawn in slow motion. All the while, system monitor showed that both CPU's were nearly idle. When I closed the file copy window, performance returned to normal and there were no dmesg errors. For anyone experiencing the problem, there's a kind of workaround that some people have had luck with (myself included). Try copying one file at a time and then pausing between each one to let the cache empty out, (since writing appears continue long after the copy dialog has closed). On USB devices in particular, try unmounting and re-mounting between files to make sure the file you are working on is really finished. Obviously, this is only going to work if you are copying a few large files around. If you have lots of small files to move, then zip them up before copying them and you might get lucky. -- file transfer on USB disk slows down with gvfs https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/197762 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is the registrant for gvfs. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 208269] Re: Cannot mount USB Drive from "computer:///"
Sebasiten: Sorry, I just did a bulk update - there were dozens of packages, so I can't be sure what fixed it -- Cannot mount USB Drive from "computer:///" https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/208269 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 208269] Re: Cannot mount USB Drive from "computer:///"
With the latest updates this problem is now fixed for me -- Cannot mount USB Drive from "computer:///" https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/208269 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 208269] Re: Cannot mount USB Drive from "computer:///"
I'm getting this exact problem with today's updates. It's a USB flash drive formatted NTFS, an icon appears under "computer:///", but it cannot be mounted. -- Cannot mount USB Drive from "computer:///" https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/208269 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
