Operating mode hdd pio dma windows 7. Data transfer modes. Spontaneous switching of Windows to PIO mode and signs of this

1. Open Device Manager.
This can be done by clicking right click mouse to “My Computer”, select the “Disk Devices” tab (Hardware), and click the button to select “IDE” (Select Device Manager).

2. Open the “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” section and double-click on “Primary IDE Channel”.

3. By opening the “ Extra options" (Advanced Settings), check the "Device 1" setting.
It is possible that your current setting is "PIO".

4. Set "DMA if available".

5. When all steps are completed, reboot your computer.

If you have a device on a secondary IDE channel, repeat the same steps for the Secondary IDE Channel.

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To transfer data between the hard drive and PC memory, two main modes are used:

    Programmed Input/Output (PIO) mode;

    Direct Memory Access (DMA) mode.

pio mode

In PIO mode, each byte of information with hard drive first read by the central processor and only then written to RAM. Depending on the duration of the read cycle and the number of sectors transferred per disk access, the modes PIO (PIO Mode 0), PIO1, PIO2, PIOЗ, PI04, PI05 are distinguished.

dma mode

PIO modes are used in single-tasking operating systems when the computer processor reads or writes data to buffer memory IDE or EIDE hard drives, and then this data is transferred to RAM. In multitasking operating systems, it is advisable to use Direct Memory Access (DMA) modes. Data input/output in this mode is carried out into the PC RAM without the participation of the CPU. This process occurs under the control of the drive controller on hard drives in pauses between CPU calls to RAM, which somewhat reduces the data transfer speed, but saves processor time. To implement DMA modes, unlike RYU, both special controllers and drivers are required.

DMA modes are divided into single-word (Singleword) and multi-word (Multiword) depending on the number of words transferred during one cycle of work with the system bus.

Serial ata (sata)

Further increases in data transfer rates through the parallel ATA interface caused technical difficulties. In addition, PC manufacturers were not satisfied with the wide 40-core (or 80-core) cable, which prevents air circulation inside the case and is limited to a length of 46 cm.

Therefore, in 1999, the Serial ATA Working Group was created, the goal of which was to create a serial ATA interface - Serial ATA (SATA). The interface was introduced in 2001 and demonstrated a data transfer speed of 150 MB/s.

In addition, to connect several devices (HDD, CD-ROM drives, DVD-ROM drives, etc.) not a star topology will be used (when each device must be identified as Master or Slave), but a point-to-point topology, when each device will be directly connected to the host adapter (like SCSI devices).

SCSl (Small Computer System Interface) is a more versatile and efficient interface than the IDE. However, its hardware implementation is significantly more expensive than the IDE interface implementation. The SCSI interface has clear advantages when working with video, as well as when using a CD-ROM drive in a multitasking operating environment or as a network storage device.

Communication between the SCSI device and the I/O bus (such as ISA, PCI, VLB) is carried out through an external bus using a Host adapter. Devices connected to the SCSI bus do not communicate with each other directly, but through built-in SCSI controllers.

As you know, Windows 7 received more significant improvements in boot time and system response compared to its predecessor Windows Vista . Significant changes have been made to ensure that the system does not consume all system memory when opening large quantity Explorer windows, system services and processes are optimized.


In this article we will look at:

  • optimization of the start menu
  • optimization work hard disk in Windows 7
  • optimizing the speed of copying and moving files in Windows 7
  • optimization of work with Windows drivers 7
  • time optimization Windows boot 7
  • speed up the process of viewing thumbnail images
  • acceleration completion Windows operation 7
Attention!
Please note that some of the methods discussed for speeding up work Windows 7 are based on disabling any kind of tasks, simplifying or improving the functionality of the system for more convenient use. Those. Essentially you are choosing between convenience and performance.

Ways to optimize Windows 7

1. Speed ​​up the start menu.

Definition recently installed programs, and also the system takes some time to highlight these recently installed programs every time you open the start menu. You can save this time.

To do this, you need to go to the start menu settings: in properties "Taskbar and Start Menu"(to activate, go to the control panel Windows 7: Start -> Control Panel). Go to bookmark "Start Menu" and click on the button "Tune".
Figure 1. Start menu customization

Uncheck "Highlight recently installed programs", then click "Apply".
Figure 2. Disable highlighting of recently installed programs
In order to reduce the pause when the Start menu window appears, go to the registry editor (command "regedit" in dialogue "Find programs and files").
Figure 3. Launching Registry Editor
After launching Registry Editor ( regedit.exe) go to the thread HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop(Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Selecting the required registry branch
Change the key value MenuShowDelay With "400" on "50". The pause will be significantly shortened.

Figure 5. Changing the pause when displaying a window
2. Optimizing hard drive performance in Windows 7

This option has been familiar since the days Windows XP, but if in XP it was originally included, then in Windows 7 optimization hard drives It was considered unnecessary and is disabled by default. Now we will look at the method for enabling this option.

Let's go to Start -> Control Panel -> Device Manager -> Disk Devices -> (select your HDD) -> Properties -> Policy... and put a tick next to the item "Disable cache buffer flushing" Windows entries for this device".
Figure 6. Disabling Windows Entry Cache Buffer Clearing
Now in the same "Device Manager" open another thread - "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers (IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers)", after which in the properties of all channels ATA (ATA Channel 0, ATA Channel 1 etc.) in the tab « Additional settings(Advanced Settings)" check if the checkbox is checked “Enable DMA”.
Figure 7. Enabling DMA mode
If the checkbox is not checked, check it.

3. Speed ​​up copying and moving files in Windows 7

Windows 7 got another one interesting feature- remote differential compression.
On the one hand, this option calculates and transmits the difference between two objects, minimizing the amount of transmitted data, but on the other hand, it takes time for calculation.

You can disable this feature. To do this, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off -> Remote differential compression (need to be unchecked).

Figure 8. Disabling differential compression
4. Disabling scanning digital signature drivers

This action can also slightly increase the speed of the system (when installing new drivers). To disable this option in Windows 7 follow these steps:

Execute in "Start" gpedit.msc.
Figure 9. Launching the administration panel
Then go to the following path:

User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Driver Installation -> Digital Signature of Device Drivers. In this window you need to select the mode "Disabled".

Figure 10. Disabling driver digital signature verification
5. Speed ​​up booting Windows 7

We can gain a few more seconds, really this advice applies to those users who work on multi-core processors with Windows 7 as operating system.
So, follow these steps:

Enter MSCONFIG in the menu search field "Start" and press the key "Enter".

In the window that opens, go to the tab and click on the button "Advanced options".

Figure 11. Additional system optimization options Check the box next to the item "Number of processors" and in the drop-down menu under this item, select the maximum number of your cores (2 or 4).

Figure 12. Setting the number of processors for systems with multi-threaded processors
Click "OK" and reboot the system to see a fairly noticeable difference in boot speed Windows 7.

6. Accelerate viewing of thumbnails (thumbnails).

You can increase the speed of viewing thumbnails in Windows 7. To do this you need to follow these steps:

Enter regedit(without quotes) in the menu search field "Start" and press the key "Enter".

Go to thread "HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Mouse".

Figure 13. Selecting the desired registry branch to optimize the pause when displaying thumbnails
Double click on the parameter MouseHoverTime and change its value to 100 .

Figure 14. Setting a new value
7. Reducing time shutdown Windows 7

Shutdown time Windows 7 can be significantly reduced. However, this is a rather barbaric method: we reduce the time allotted to the process to terminate the program, after which the program will be terminated forcibly.

Enter regedit in the menu search field "Start" and press the key "Enter".

Go to thread HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> System -> CurrentControlSet -> Control.


Figure 15. Selecting the required registry key
Change the parameter value "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" from the meaning 12000 (12 seconds) on 2000 (2 seconds).

Figure 16. Changing the value.

A long-term state of stability is sooner or later disrupted by something unpredictable and strange, so the moment has come. A couple of days ago, when copying a file from one physical disk on the other, I suddenly noticed that the speed was catastrophically low - 4-6 Mb/s instead of the expected 50-90 Mb/s (adjusted for fragmentation). I look at the CPU load - one core is completely busy processing interrupts, everything is clear - the disk has switched to PIO mode.

Initial configuration: ASUS P5Q, 4 x 1 Gb SATA disks, 2 x 1.5 Gb SATA disks, no RAIDs, Windows XP SP3. The disk worked in UDMA mode, like all the others, I tested it after installation. Device Manager –> IDE controllers –> channel and look at “current transfer mode”. In the picture, both devices operate in UDMA mode; in my case, the second device worked in PIO mode, but I did not save this picture. To understand who is on which channel, switch the Device Manager view to View –> Devices by Connection.

Although SATA drives, controllers in Device Manager are ATA. The thing is that in the BIOS SATA controllers by default they are configured to pretend to be ATA controllers, in which case no additional new AHCI drivers are required. You can switch to AHCI mode painlessly; it does not affect the logical organization of data and only requires the appropriate drivers. In AHCI mode, support for NCQ (reordering of HDD commands) appears and, in general, performance increases a little, but only slightly, and hot-swappable support is also added.

Versions possible reasons:

1) Something with a train.
2) Something with the drivers, failure or conflict.
3) Something with the HDD.

There is a second system - Windows 7, I boot into it and observe the full performance of the disks in UDMA modes, which means the hardware seems to be normal. I look at the event log, there are no messages in it about a problem with the disks, I look at the SMART diagnostics - everything is ok, there are no device conflicts, all this is good. I'll take it latest drivers with ASUS. I'm writing it down old number version of the Intel ICH10R driver, install a new one. Installed suspiciously quickly, in the end it was not updated. I manually update the ICH10R drivers via INF files, it installs, but the problem remains. I go to Intel, download the latest version, install it, nothing is installed again. I find out that their drivers are updated only if the device does not have a driver at all, to force it you need to use the secret key “–overlall”, I try, it is updated, but does not solve the problem. I change the cable, take it out, plug in the disk - it doesn’t help. The intermediate result is that the hardware works, the new software does not help.

I find an interesting article in Microsoft: “After several CRC errors or timeouts have occurred, drives with IDE ATA and ATAPI interfaces use PIO mode.” They write that if there were transmission failures via UDMA, the system sequentially lowers the modes down to PIO mode (or immediately) and freezes this state! To get it back, they suggest removing the controller from Device Manager and it will be reborn from the ashes. I didn’t go for it, because... I was afraid that he might not be reborn (they wrote about this somewhere), so he took the second path described there and in other places.

Solution. Open the registry branch “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\(4D36E96A-E325-11CE-B FC1-08002BE10318)”, it will contain branches 0000, 0001, etc. They correspond to devices in Device Manager. We are only interested in channels; we look at the name by DriverDesc, in this case “Primary IDE Channel”.

Pay attention to MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed and SlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed - they set a mask of acceptable modes, if 0xffffffff, then everything is allowed, and if 0x1f, then only PIO mode. I have a problem on Slave. The current modes themselves are stored in MasterDeviceTimingMode and SlaveDeviceTimingMode, they are different (you can find the meaning of the numbers on the Internet). MS suggests doing the following - setting the additional key ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess (DWORD) = 1 and rebooting. I did this, but it did not do anything, it only gave that the desired mode UserSlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed was also reset to 0x1f. I returned it to Device Manager, but I think you can manually set it to 0xffffffff here too. Next, I set SlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed = 0xffffffff, rebooted and voila!, everything worked. So, I think all I had to do was the following (problem on Slave):

UserSlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed = 0xffffffff, SlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed = 0xffffffff, ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess = 1 and reboot.

The following picture shows the final state of the registry after a reboot. The modes are now the same, the masks have been preserved and in Device Manager we see the picture as at the beginning of the post.

Now about the reason. As follows from the MS article, one of the reasons for fixing their driver was that the waiting time for the HDD to start was insufficient (in Win2000 it was 4 seconds, they made it 10 seconds) and this was a problem when the disks came out of sleep. I constantly used the setting to turn off disks after inactivity after 2 hours, which sometimes led to them waking up randomly when some applications wanted to access several partitions at once. I believe that maybe in some scenario the timeout was exceeded and a failure was recorded that led to UDMA being disabled. Now I have given up turning off the disks, let them work, besides, frequent switching on and off may do more harm than good.

If the computer starts to slow down, then most users, first of all, begin to blame the processor, RAM or video card, but completely forget that the hard drive is an equally important component of the computer and in many cases the problems of reducing the speed of the operating system are related precisely with him.

Possible operating modes of the hard drive

The HDD has the ability to work with data in two modes: legacy PIO and newer DMA. They differ radically in the principle of their operation and, accordingly, in the speed of data processing. So in PIO mode, all data is processed using the processor, which heavily loads it and, as a result, leads to a drop in overall system performance. But the DMA mode is already hardware data processing in which various accelerators are used and the CPU is not involved in this process.

Spontaneous switching of Windows to PIO mode and signs of this

Windows by default works with the HDD in high-speed DMA mode, but sometimes due to specific errors it switches to PIO mode on its own. Moreover, it is very problematic to turn DMA back on and do it using standard methods almost impossible. Characteristic signs that Windows has switched to working with the hard drive in PIO mode are:

The speed of working with the HDD drops several times;
Slow system speed during disk operations;
Excessive processor load (80-90%) when working with a hard drive;
The system began to “slow down” sharply. That is, everything was fine an hour ago, and then problems suddenly appeared.

On this moment The hard drive is the weakest point of the entire system, and a drop in its operating speed even by half leads to catastrophic consequences. To make sure that Windows actually switched to work with the hard drive in slow PIO mode, you need to do the following:

1. Click on the “My Computer” icon with the right mouse button and select “Manage”;

2. Expand the controller branch and find the channel to which your hard drive is connected;
3. Right-click on it, go to “Properties” and switch to “Advanced Settings”;
4. Look at the line “Current transmission mode”. If it says “DMA Mode”, then everything is fine, but if “PIO Mode”, then you will have to do a few simple operations and return the disk to the preferred operating mode.

Enable DMA mode

There are actually two ways to achieve this. The first one is quite simple and you just need to remove the malfunctioning device and then restart your computer. After this, Windows will automatically install it again and the device's operating mode will switch back to DMA.

If for some reason you are unable to enable DMA using the first method, then you will have to make a little more effort and use the Registry Editor. Do the following:

  1. Press Win+R and type the command in the line that appears regedit;
  2. Go along the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\(4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318);

  1. Find the MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed line.
  2. If the value of this line in the column is written 0x00000001f, then this means that your hard drive is actually operating in PIO mode;
  3. Change the value to 0xffffffff and restart your computer.

After this, your hard drive will switch back to DMA mode, and its speed and overall system speed will increase significantly.


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