Why Don't I get the accurate SSD speed in my Acer Aspire 5 (A515-51G-59UX)?

aphanic

The partition table style is not the problem, UEFI requires GPT for Windows Installation (sort of, not completely true... but it's the standard anyway).

It has to be something on the hardware side, or something on Intel's RST side, because it's the one handling the data communication with the storage, but I have no more ideas on my mind. I have one more, see what happens under Linux, different OS, different drivers, etc. etc.

We'll be using that same USB we used before and instead of putting a live Windows environment there, we'll put a live Linux environment there, then run some tests. Don't worry because I'll be running them with you too and I'll guide you through just like the other time.

I'm kind of busy right now, so I can only post you the right configuration for Rufus and tell you what to download, I'll let you know later one the testing procedure okay?

This time we'll go with something different than Mint, to get a more up to date set of packages. I have chosen EndeavourOS (based on Arch), download the ISO image from here: https://github.com/endeavouros-team/ISO/releases/download/1-EndeavourOS-ISO-releases-archive/endeavouros-2020.07.15-x86_64.iso

Then using Rufus in the same manner as before, when you select that image these are the settings you'll want to see:

Sobuj

Ok. Take your time. In the meantime I will complete the things you wanted me to do.

aphanic

One thing that we'll need to do is switching to AHCI before booting into Endeavour or it will not be able to see the internal disk, Linux has different and complicated support for RST so we'll do that and then switch back to RST for Windows to boot, otherwise you'll run into a boot problem with Windows.

Testing will be different since there is no CrystalDiskMark for Linux, but we'll do something equivalent and take a look at the numbers.

Sobuj

Okay. I am downloading the iso file. In here my internet connection is working slow. Give me some time to download.

aphanic

Don't worry you'll have plenty, I can't be around until 2 or 3 hours later, but I'll have you a testing way by then

aphanic

Apparently because there's nothing quite like CrystalDiskMark in Linux we'll have to go through some hoops to get more or less the same tests, but here we go.

1. Change to AHCI in BIOS, then boot into Endeavour, you'll be eventually presented with a Desktop like this:
   
   
   
   
2. You can close that welcoming app, it's not necessary for what we want.
3. Connect to your network, if it is a cabled network you should already be connected otherwise it's the icon next to the language near the clock:
   
   
   
   The password input control will remain red until you have reached the minimum of 8 characters required for a network with password, it doesn't mean anything is wrong.
   
   Once connected, open Firefox (lower left, there's a washed out icon for it) and download the testing script from this address:
   
   https://www.mediafire.com/file/yo71oxmkvibzbjk/file
   
   
4. Save it in the Downloads folder (its name won't be that, just Test.sh I think):
5. Now open the file explorer (blue icon next to the Firefox one in the taskbar) and you'll see your disk in the devices list, there may be several partitions but open the important one. Just click over it:
   
   
   
   
6. Move that window to the side and open up a terminal window (black icon next to the one for the file explorer in the task manager):
   
   When it opens we need to install an utility called "fio" in which the tests rely, for that you'll have to input some commands, one on each own line and you'll have to wait until it is done to input the next. I'll post here the commands and show you a typical output (just three and "clear" is just to get rid of the text to be honest):
   

   chmod +x Downloads/Test.sh
   sudo pacman -Sy fio
   clear
   

   
   
   
   
7. Now let's switch to the directory in which the drive has been mounted, you can see its location in the file manager on the right side, top bar, for example mine is at "/run/media/liveuser/SX8200 Pro". For that, input this command:
   

   cd /run/media/liveuser/SX8200\ Pro
   
   Substituting my path for yours of course. Pressing Tab autocompletes along the way by the way,
   so if you type "SX[Tab]" it will automatically write the rest.
   

8. And it's time to run the test, the command to run the test is the following and you'll be asked several questions along the way:
   

   /home/liveuser/Downloads/Test.sh

   The anwers are:

   .                       (just a single dot)
   5
   1024
   0
   N

   And then things should look like what you see in this picture:
   
   
   
   Type 'Y' when asked if they're correct and the test will begin. Once done (it doesn't take nearly as much as CDM) you'll see the output and be asked if you want to save them:
   
   
   

For me they seemed consistent with what I had seen in Windows with CDM, if you see the something different it could be that the problem lies with Windows and its drivers. Also, because we're using Windows' filesystems (NTFS) that are not native than Linux one can expect a decrease in performance because they have to go through an intermediate layer called "fuse".

I made a little partition in my disk and re-run the test for you to see that there's a penalty under NTFS and here you have both results (some results I can't explain):

                                             NTFS                     Ext4
   Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :   2917MB/s [     89 IOPS]  3303MB/s [    100 IOPS]
  Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :   2566MB/s [     78 IOPS]  2023MB/s [     61 IOPS]
  Random Read 4KiB (Q=  8,T= 8) :    984MB/s [ 246075 IOPS]  1389MB/s [ 347396 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q=  8,T= 8) :    205MB/s [  51373 IOPS]  1261MB/s [ 315342 IOPS]
  Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :    510MB/s [ 127601 IOPS]   952MB/s [ 238139 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :    252MB/s [  63112 IOPS]   823MB/s [ 205829 IOPS]
  Random Read 4KiB (Q=  1,T= 1) :    547MB/s [ 136989 IOPS]    83MB/s [  20897 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q=  1,T= 1) :    256MB/s [  64100 IOPS]   306MB/s [  76704 IOPS]

  Test : 1024 MiB [ADATA SX8200PNP, nvme0n1 /run/media/liveuser/SX8200 (61/477 GiB] (x5)  [Interval=0 sec]
  Date : 2020/07/31 06:13:32
    OS : Linux 5.7.8-arch1-1 x86_64

This is qualitative though, just to see things from a different perspective and not proper testing in controlled environments, but you get an idea. Maybe do a couple of runs and average the results, maybe there's something else we're not taking into account, who knows.

I hope it's not too hard to follow, this time it's not like in Windows, download X program and double click it, then click here. Do ask any doubt you have and we'll try to answer it.

Sobuj

I am having this error. I change the mode to AHCI.

aphanic

Ohhh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Security Boot must also be disabled (you may need to temporarily set a supervisor password in BIOS to be able to change that setting.

Security Boot is a feature that prevents booting anything that is not signed with an authorized key, simplifying things a lot. So Windows is authorized, and some Linuxes are too, but Endeavour is not; that's why we need to disable it otherwise it won't be allowed to boot.

You can leave it disabled for Windows too if you wish, but since the only operating system you have installed is Windows it doesn't hurt turning it back on again when you change AHCI back to RST. The Security Boot setting is where the UEFI/Legacy are.

Sobuj

Yeah. I watched a video on YouTube and set the things right.😁

Sobuj

Can you upload the Test.sh file in any other source? I am getting error when trying to download.

aphanic

Sure, I'll attach it to this post I had to zip it though.

And I left it here too: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=55047150989633420481

Sobuj

It is showing me some corrupted package. What should I do now?

aphanic

Corrupted... what the hell, delete it and try redownloading it (typing the command again). That didn't happen to me.

aphanic

Just in case, run "sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys" so signing keys are reloaded too.

Sobuj

I have tried again but same things happen again. How to delete the first downloaded things?

Sobuj

Another error.

aphanic

Let's see which mirror you're using, maybe that's the problem because we're in different locations we may not be using the same one.

Type: sudo head /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

This is me:

Sobuj

Give me some hours. I have to go out for some emergency purposes... I will come as fast as I can... Then we will be good to go. Sorry for taking time.

aphanic

No problem, don't worry about that at all I'll leave instructions here with a video just in case.

It's easier if I send you the packages myself hahaha

Decompress those packages somewhere, for example in the Downloads folder, and look at this GIF on how to proceed. What I have typed in the terminal to install the packages was "sudo pacman -U *", because it is blurry. 

Sobuj

Sorry for the late response. Here is the result. The speed has increased for some function and decreased for some function. I don't know what to say.