USB hard drive I/O slow speeds











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I have several Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 with 4 drives - all with the same symptoms - extremely slow I/O (at best, about 10MB/s write). Each unit is configured with a software RAID 5 using mdadm with 4 drives.



It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port and I expect it to be slower than USB 3.0 but 10MB/s seems suspiciously and ridiculously slow to me.



I can post smartctl -a output for each drive - but none of the drives appear to be failing and no errors are being logged into syslog related to the drives.



Here are the drives in the first unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1ER164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164


Drives in second unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     WDC WD20EADS-00R6B0

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166


Kernel version:



3.16.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.57-2


Output from mount:



/dev/md2 on /mnt/nas type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=256,data=ordered)

/dev/md3 on /mnt/nas2 type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=384,data=ordered)


Output from /proc/mdstat



md3 : active raid5 sdg[5] sdj[4] sdi[6] sdh[1]

      5860150272 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]

      bitmap: 0/15 pages [0KB], 65536KB chunk



md2 : active raid5 sdc1[0] sdf1[4] sdd1[6] sde1[5]

      5860141056 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]


Tests using dd:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 71.1888 s, 15.1 MB/s



root@talon:/mnt/nas# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 80.8867 s, 13.3 MB/s


Output from mdadm --detail



/dev/md2:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Wed May  1 22:26:29 2013

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860141056 (5588.67 GiB 6000.78 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953380352 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:29:12 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dev-vm01:0

           UUID : dc4e42f6:3c3eb2f7:d6137927:51e328ef

         Events : 21688



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       0       8       33        0      active sync   /dev/sdc1

       5       8       65        1      active sync   /dev/sde1

       6       8       49        2      active sync   /dev/sdd1

       4       8       81        3      active sync   /dev/sdf1



=-===-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



/dev/md3:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Sat Mar 10 11:08:14 2018

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860150272 (5588.67 GiB 6000.79 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953383424 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



  Intent Bitmap : Internal



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:23:31 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dragon:0

           UUID : 70d8f410:462c6714:50231e20:b08aca81

         Events : 151906



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       5       8       96        0      active sync   /dev/sdg

       1       8      112        1      active sync   /dev/sdh

       6       8      128        2      active sync   /dev/sdi

       4       8      144        3      active sync   /dev/sdj


More detailed information



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb

Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 3:2



Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 1:3



Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

       bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered



"It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that?




See the output from lsusb.



bcdUSB               2.10



What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used?




Motherboard: GA-78LMT-USB3
I will have to verify the revision and exact port.




Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result?




Yes - 2 units are plugged into the same desktop in different USB ports.
I even get these speeds from a Raspberry Pi.




USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec.




The size of the disks don't matter. And I don't buy that - there are many resources that state the speed will be slow but faster than 10MB/s.




  • https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-typical-usb-20-external-hard-drive-403

  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/41397/external-usb-hard-drives-what-speeds-should-be-expected

  • https://superuser.com/questions/664397/usb-3-0-vs-usb-2-0-for-external-hard-disks-drives


I plugged one of the units into a known USB 3.0 port:



Bus 002 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               3.00

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0         9

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000


Now I am getting 3x the transfer speed but no where near what it should be:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile4 bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 32.2737 s, 33.3 MB/s


Output from fdisk:



Disk /dev/sdc: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xe3b023b3



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdc1          63 3907024064 3907024002  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdd: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x580e98e6



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdd1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sde: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x000d19a7



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sde1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdf: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc16a55ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdf1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux



Disk /dev/sdg: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91d9f27



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdg1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdj: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x65cd7624



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdj1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdi: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x03221dd4



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdi1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdh: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91329ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdh1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





usb-drive io mdadm software-raid







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  • "It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that? What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used? Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result? Please click on edit and add that to the original post, so all may see it. Also, on very long posts, it's OK to put the long text up somewhere others may see it and provide a link to the detail.
    – K7AAY
    2 days ago






  • 1




    USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec. This being said, is there any chance that those Seagate drives have 4 KiB physical sectors, and if so, have you aligned data structures correctly?
    – AlexP
    2 days ago

















up vote
1
down vote

favorite












I have several Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 with 4 drives - all with the same symptoms - extremely slow I/O (at best, about 10MB/s write). Each unit is configured with a software RAID 5 using mdadm with 4 drives.



It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port and I expect it to be slower than USB 3.0 but 10MB/s seems suspiciously and ridiculously slow to me.



I can post smartctl -a output for each drive - but none of the drives appear to be failing and no errors are being logged into syslog related to the drives.



Here are the drives in the first unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1ER164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164


Drives in second unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     WDC WD20EADS-00R6B0

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166


Kernel version:



3.16.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.57-2


Output from mount:



/dev/md2 on /mnt/nas type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=256,data=ordered)

/dev/md3 on /mnt/nas2 type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=384,data=ordered)


Output from /proc/mdstat



md3 : active raid5 sdg[5] sdj[4] sdi[6] sdh[1]

      5860150272 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]

      bitmap: 0/15 pages [0KB], 65536KB chunk



md2 : active raid5 sdc1[0] sdf1[4] sdd1[6] sde1[5]

      5860141056 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]


Tests using dd:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 71.1888 s, 15.1 MB/s



root@talon:/mnt/nas# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 80.8867 s, 13.3 MB/s


Output from mdadm --detail



/dev/md2:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Wed May  1 22:26:29 2013

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860141056 (5588.67 GiB 6000.78 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953380352 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:29:12 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dev-vm01:0

           UUID : dc4e42f6:3c3eb2f7:d6137927:51e328ef

         Events : 21688



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       0       8       33        0      active sync   /dev/sdc1

       5       8       65        1      active sync   /dev/sde1

       6       8       49        2      active sync   /dev/sdd1

       4       8       81        3      active sync   /dev/sdf1



=-===-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



/dev/md3:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Sat Mar 10 11:08:14 2018

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860150272 (5588.67 GiB 6000.79 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953383424 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



  Intent Bitmap : Internal



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:23:31 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dragon:0

           UUID : 70d8f410:462c6714:50231e20:b08aca81

         Events : 151906



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       5       8       96        0      active sync   /dev/sdg

       1       8      112        1      active sync   /dev/sdh

       6       8      128        2      active sync   /dev/sdi

       4       8      144        3      active sync   /dev/sdj


More detailed information



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb

Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 3:2



Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 1:3



Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

       bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered



"It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that?




See the output from lsusb.



bcdUSB               2.10



What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used?




Motherboard: GA-78LMT-USB3
I will have to verify the revision and exact port.




Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result?




Yes - 2 units are plugged into the same desktop in different USB ports.
I even get these speeds from a Raspberry Pi.




USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec.




The size of the disks don't matter. And I don't buy that - there are many resources that state the speed will be slow but faster than 10MB/s.




  • https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-typical-usb-20-external-hard-drive-403

  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/41397/external-usb-hard-drives-what-speeds-should-be-expected

  • https://superuser.com/questions/664397/usb-3-0-vs-usb-2-0-for-external-hard-disks-drives


I plugged one of the units into a known USB 3.0 port:



Bus 002 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               3.00

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0         9

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000


Now I am getting 3x the transfer speed but no where near what it should be:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile4 bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 32.2737 s, 33.3 MB/s


Output from fdisk:



Disk /dev/sdc: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xe3b023b3



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdc1          63 3907024064 3907024002  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdd: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x580e98e6



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdd1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sde: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x000d19a7



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sde1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdf: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc16a55ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdf1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux



Disk /dev/sdg: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91d9f27



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdg1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdj: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x65cd7624



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdj1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdi: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x03221dd4



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdi1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdh: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91329ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdh1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





usb-drive io mdadm software-raid







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  • "It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that? What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used? Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result? Please click on edit and add that to the original post, so all may see it. Also, on very long posts, it's OK to put the long text up somewhere others may see it and provide a link to the detail.
    – K7AAY
    2 days ago






  • 1




    USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec. This being said, is there any chance that those Seagate drives have 4 KiB physical sectors, and if so, have you aligned data structures correctly?
    – AlexP
    2 days ago















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I have several Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 with 4 drives - all with the same symptoms - extremely slow I/O (at best, about 10MB/s write). Each unit is configured with a software RAID 5 using mdadm with 4 drives.



It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port and I expect it to be slower than USB 3.0 but 10MB/s seems suspiciously and ridiculously slow to me.



I can post smartctl -a output for each drive - but none of the drives appear to be failing and no errors are being logged into syslog related to the drives.



Here are the drives in the first unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1ER164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164


Drives in second unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     WDC WD20EADS-00R6B0

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166


Kernel version:



3.16.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.57-2


Output from mount:



/dev/md2 on /mnt/nas type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=256,data=ordered)

/dev/md3 on /mnt/nas2 type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=384,data=ordered)


Output from /proc/mdstat



md3 : active raid5 sdg[5] sdj[4] sdi[6] sdh[1]

      5860150272 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]

      bitmap: 0/15 pages [0KB], 65536KB chunk



md2 : active raid5 sdc1[0] sdf1[4] sdd1[6] sde1[5]

      5860141056 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]


Tests using dd:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 71.1888 s, 15.1 MB/s



root@talon:/mnt/nas# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 80.8867 s, 13.3 MB/s


Output from mdadm --detail



/dev/md2:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Wed May  1 22:26:29 2013

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860141056 (5588.67 GiB 6000.78 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953380352 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:29:12 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dev-vm01:0

           UUID : dc4e42f6:3c3eb2f7:d6137927:51e328ef

         Events : 21688



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       0       8       33        0      active sync   /dev/sdc1

       5       8       65        1      active sync   /dev/sde1

       6       8       49        2      active sync   /dev/sdd1

       4       8       81        3      active sync   /dev/sdf1



=-===-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



/dev/md3:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Sat Mar 10 11:08:14 2018

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860150272 (5588.67 GiB 6000.79 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953383424 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



  Intent Bitmap : Internal



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:23:31 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dragon:0

           UUID : 70d8f410:462c6714:50231e20:b08aca81

         Events : 151906



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       5       8       96        0      active sync   /dev/sdg

       1       8      112        1      active sync   /dev/sdh

       6       8      128        2      active sync   /dev/sdi

       4       8      144        3      active sync   /dev/sdj


More detailed information



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb

Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 3:2



Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 1:3



Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

       bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered



"It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that?




See the output from lsusb.



bcdUSB               2.10



What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used?




Motherboard: GA-78LMT-USB3
I will have to verify the revision and exact port.




Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result?




Yes - 2 units are plugged into the same desktop in different USB ports.
I even get these speeds from a Raspberry Pi.




USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec.




The size of the disks don't matter. And I don't buy that - there are many resources that state the speed will be slow but faster than 10MB/s.




  • https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-typical-usb-20-external-hard-drive-403

  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/41397/external-usb-hard-drives-what-speeds-should-be-expected

  • https://superuser.com/questions/664397/usb-3-0-vs-usb-2-0-for-external-hard-disks-drives


I plugged one of the units into a known USB 3.0 port:



Bus 002 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               3.00

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0         9

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000


Now I am getting 3x the transfer speed but no where near what it should be:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile4 bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 32.2737 s, 33.3 MB/s


Output from fdisk:



Disk /dev/sdc: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xe3b023b3



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdc1          63 3907024064 3907024002  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdd: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x580e98e6



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdd1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sde: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x000d19a7



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sde1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdf: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc16a55ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdf1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux



Disk /dev/sdg: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91d9f27



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdg1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdj: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x65cd7624



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdj1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdi: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x03221dd4



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdi1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdh: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91329ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdh1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





usb-drive io mdadm software-raid







share|improve this question









New contributor




Nathan Adams is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











I have several Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 with 4 drives - all with the same symptoms - extremely slow I/O (at best, about 10MB/s write). Each unit is configured with a software RAID 5 using mdadm with 4 drives.



It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port and I expect it to be slower than USB 3.0 but 10MB/s seems suspiciously and ridiculously slow to me.



I can post smartctl -a output for each drive - but none of the drives appear to be failing and no errors are being logged into syslog related to the drives.



Here are the drives in the first unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1ER164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164

Device Model:     ST2000DM001-1CH164


Drives in second unit:



Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166

Device Model:     WDC WD20EADS-00R6B0

Device Model:     ST2000DL003-9VT166


Kernel version:



3.16.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.57-2


Output from mount:



/dev/md2 on /mnt/nas type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=256,data=ordered)

/dev/md3 on /mnt/nas2 type ext4 (rw,relatime,stripe=384,data=ordered)


Output from /proc/mdstat



md3 : active raid5 sdg[5] sdj[4] sdi[6] sdh[1]

      5860150272 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]

      bitmap: 0/15 pages [0KB], 65536KB chunk



md2 : active raid5 sdc1[0] sdf1[4] sdd1[6] sde1[5]

      5860141056 blocks super 1.2 level 5, 512k chunk, algorithm 2 [4/4] [UUUU]


Tests using dd:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 71.1888 s, 15.1 MB/s



root@talon:/mnt/nas# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas/testfile bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 80.8867 s, 13.3 MB/s


Output from mdadm --detail



/dev/md2:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Wed May  1 22:26:29 2013

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860141056 (5588.67 GiB 6000.78 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953380352 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:29:12 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dev-vm01:0

           UUID : dc4e42f6:3c3eb2f7:d6137927:51e328ef

         Events : 21688



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       0       8       33        0      active sync   /dev/sdc1

       5       8       65        1      active sync   /dev/sde1

       6       8       49        2      active sync   /dev/sdd1

       4       8       81        3      active sync   /dev/sdf1



=-===-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



/dev/md3:

        Version : 1.2

  Creation Time : Sat Mar 10 11:08:14 2018

     Raid Level : raid5

     Array Size : 5860150272 (5588.67 GiB 6000.79 GB)

  Used Dev Size : 1953383424 (1862.89 GiB 2000.26 GB)

   Raid Devices : 4

  Total Devices : 4

    Persistence : Superblock is persistent



  Intent Bitmap : Internal



    Update Time : Wed Dec  5 21:23:31 2018

          State : clean

Active Devices : 4

Working Devices : 4

Failed Devices : 0

  Spare Devices : 0



         Layout : left-symmetric

     Chunk Size : 512K



           Name : dragon:0

           UUID : 70d8f410:462c6714:50231e20:b08aca81

         Events : 151906



    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State

       5       8       96        0      active sync   /dev/sdg

       1       8      112        1      active sync   /dev/sdh

       6       8      128        2      active sync   /dev/sdi

       4       8      144        3      active sync   /dev/sdj


More detailed information



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb

Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 3:2



Bus 003 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



root@talon:/mnt/nas# lsusb -v -s 1:3



Bus 001 Device 003: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.10

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           32

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 USB Mass Storage

    bmAttributes         0xc0

      Self Powered

    MaxPower               50mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           2

      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage

      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI

      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only

      iInterface              6 MSC Bulk-Only Transport

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

       bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Binary Object Store Descriptor:

  bLength                 5

  bDescriptorType        15

  wTotalLength           22

  bNumDeviceCaps          2

  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:

    bLength                 7

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      2

    bmAttributes   0x00000002

      Link Power Management (LPM) Supported

  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:

    bLength                10

    bDescriptorType        16

    bDevCapabilityType      3

    bmAttributes         0x00

    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e

      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)

      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

    bFunctionalitySupport   1

      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)

    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds

    bU2DevExitLat        2047 micro seconds

Device Status:     0x0001

  Self Powered



"It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that?




See the output from lsusb.



bcdUSB               2.10



What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used?




Motherboard: GA-78LMT-USB3
I will have to verify the revision and exact port.




Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result?




Yes - 2 units are plugged into the same desktop in different USB ports.
I even get these speeds from a Raspberry Pi.




USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec.




The size of the disks don't matter. And I don't buy that - there are many resources that state the speed will be slow but faster than 10MB/s.




  • https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-typical-usb-20-external-hard-drive-403

  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/41397/external-usb-hard-drives-what-speeds-should-be-expected

  • https://superuser.com/questions/664397/usb-3-0-vs-usb-2-0-for-external-hard-disks-drives


I plugged one of the units into a known USB 3.0 port:



Bus 002 Device 002: ID 152d:0567 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               3.00

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0

  bDeviceProtocol         0

  bMaxPacketSize0         9

  idVendor           0x152d JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp.

  idProduct          0x0567

  bcdDevice            2.05

  iManufacturer          10 JMicron

  iProduct               11 USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge

  iSerial                 5 152D00539000


Now I am getting 3x the transfer speed but no where near what it should be:



root@talon:/mnt/nas2# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nas2/testfile4 bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

1+0 records in

1+0 records out

1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 32.2737 s, 33.3 MB/s


Output from fdisk:



Disk /dev/sdc: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xe3b023b3



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdc1          63 3907024064 3907024002  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdd: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x580e98e6



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdd1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sde: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x000d19a7



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sde1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T 83 Linux





Disk /dev/sdf: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc16a55ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdf1        2048 3907029167 3907027120  1.8T 83 Linux



Disk /dev/sdg: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91d9f27



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdg1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdj: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x65cd7624



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdj1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdi: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x03221dd4



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdi1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





Disk /dev/sdh: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors

Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disklabel type: dos

Disk identifier: 0xc91329ab



Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type

/dev/sdh1        2048 3907028991 3907026944  1.8T fd Linux raid autodetect





usb-drive io mdadm software-raid




usb-drive io mdadm software-raid






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edited 2 days ago





















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asked Dec 7 at 3:51









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  • "It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that? What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used? Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result? Please click on edit and add that to the original post, so all may see it. Also, on very long posts, it's OK to put the long text up somewhere others may see it and provide a link to the detail.
    – K7AAY
    2 days ago






  • 1




    USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec. This being said, is there any chance that those Seagate drives have 4 KiB physical sectors, and if so, have you aligned data structures correctly?
    – AlexP
    2 days ago




















  • "It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that? What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used? Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result? Please click on edit and add that to the original post, so all may see it. Also, on very long posts, it's OK to put the long text up somewhere others may see it and provide a link to the detail.
    – K7AAY
    2 days ago






  • 1




    USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec. This being said, is there any chance that those Seagate drives have 4 KiB physical sectors, and if so, have you aligned data structures correctly?
    – AlexP
    2 days ago


















"It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that? What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used? Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result? Please click on edit and add that to the original post, so all may see it. Also, on very long posts, it's OK to put the long text up somewhere others may see it and provide a link to the detail.
– K7AAY
2 days ago




"It does appear it is connected to a USB 2.1 port ". How did you confirm that? What motherboard or PC model is in use, and which USB port is used? Have you tried other ports on that PC, and if so, did you get the same result? Please click on edit and add that to the original post, so all may see it. Also, on very long posts, it's OK to put the long text up somewhere others may see it and provide a link to the detail.
– K7AAY
2 days ago




1




1




USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec. This being said, is there any chance that those Seagate drives have 4 KiB physical sectors, and if so, have you aligned data structures correctly?
– AlexP
2 days ago






USB 2.0 is very much slower than USB 3.0. A hard disk directly connected through USB 2.0 will hardly ever go above 20 MB/sec, whereas on USB 3.0 even small 2.5" disks reach 100 MB/sec. This being said, is there any chance that those Seagate drives have 4 KiB physical sectors, and if so, have you aligned data structures correctly?
– AlexP
2 days ago












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
1
down vote













USB2 speed (60MB/s) divided by the number of drives in RAID you are writing to at the same time (4) is equal to 15 MB/s, throw in some overhead and 10 sounds reasonable.



To test unmount the RAID to make sure it's not using the bus then run



hdparm -Tt /dev/sdh





share|improve this answer























  • That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
    – Nathan Adams
    12 hours ago










  • @NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
    – user1133275
    11 hours ago











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active

oldest

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up vote
1
down vote













USB2 speed (60MB/s) divided by the number of drives in RAID you are writing to at the same time (4) is equal to 15 MB/s, throw in some overhead and 10 sounds reasonable.



To test unmount the RAID to make sure it's not using the bus then run



hdparm -Tt /dev/sdh





share|improve this answer























  • That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
    – Nathan Adams
    12 hours ago










  • @NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
    – user1133275
    11 hours ago















up vote
1
down vote













USB2 speed (60MB/s) divided by the number of drives in RAID you are writing to at the same time (4) is equal to 15 MB/s, throw in some overhead and 10 sounds reasonable.



To test unmount the RAID to make sure it's not using the bus then run



hdparm -Tt /dev/sdh





share|improve this answer























  • That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
    – Nathan Adams
    12 hours ago










  • @NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
    – user1133275
    11 hours ago













up vote
1
down vote










up vote
1
down vote









USB2 speed (60MB/s) divided by the number of drives in RAID you are writing to at the same time (4) is equal to 15 MB/s, throw in some overhead and 10 sounds reasonable.



To test unmount the RAID to make sure it's not using the bus then run



hdparm -Tt /dev/sdh





share|improve this answer














USB2 speed (60MB/s) divided by the number of drives in RAID you are writing to at the same time (4) is equal to 15 MB/s, throw in some overhead and 10 sounds reasonable.



To test unmount the RAID to make sure it's not using the bus then run



hdparm -Tt /dev/sdh






share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 2 days ago

























answered 2 days ago









user1133275

2,750415




2,750415












  • That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
    – Nathan Adams
    12 hours ago










  • @NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
    – user1133275
    11 hours ago


















  • That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
    – Nathan Adams
    12 hours ago










  • @NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
    – user1133275
    11 hours ago
















That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
– Nathan Adams
12 hours ago




That makes sense for USB 2.0 but I have it plugged into a USB 3.0 port and let's assume the transfer speed is 500MB/s - dividing by 4 should yield at least 100MB/s transfer rate but according to the dd test I only got 33MB/s. I'm going to update and try a newer kernel and see if that helps.
– Nathan Adams
12 hours ago












@NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
– user1133275
11 hours ago




@NathanAdams Let me know when you have hdparm and lsusb output. Also check UAS on 4.14.87 kernel.
– user1133275
11 hours ago










Nathan Adams is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










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