Hey all.
I decided to chat with Hitachi first before I chat with the IBM folks, and according to their tech support, having 0 cache is definately not right, and quote "The cache is hardware based... it is physically mounted on the HDD." He cannot imagine why it would report zero other than the fact that the interface might be screwed.
He also suggested that I contact IBM to get the drive replaced. Below is a record of the chat. I left the last few part out b/c it had my contact info...
-Connie
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Paul: Thank you for using Hitachi GST's On-line Chat. How may I help you today?
Connie: hi Paul
Connie: I just have a question
Connie: I just brought an IBM thinkpad X41
Connie: actually X41 tablet
Connie: and I believe it has this drive
Connie:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/c ... k60_ce.htm
Connie: the disk performance is really slow, and I just want to know if there has been problems reported with the drive?
Paul: You could test the drive using out DFT utility. It will diagnose the drive to see if it is having any issues.
Paul: Click here visit our downloads page.
Paul:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#dft
Connie: I've done that, and the only thing I can see wrong was it is reporting having zero for cache buffer
Connie: yeah, the Data buffer is being reported as zero
Connie: when in fact according to your data sheet it should be 2MB
Paul: That is unusual. It should be 2 MB.
Paul: You can verify the cache settings using the feature tool... also downloadable from the same site.
Connie: is it compatible with this drive? I don't see this drive as being compatible with the feature tool
Paul: I've never really tested the 1.8" drives with feature tool to see if it works. I am assuming it does.
Connie: that might be a possibility I guess
Paul: Reporting zero cache makes sense that the drive would be acting slowly
Connie: have you seen anything in your company database has having problem with this drive?
Connie: I've googled this issue and it seems a lot of people are reporting that they have performance issue and zero cache with this drive on IBM thinkpad x41T
Paul: Unfortunately, there is nothing similar to this issue. But, I will be asking if anyone has seen a similar issue.
Connie:
http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic ... hichpage=2
Connie: I will try what you suggest and I may come back to chat with you. How long will you be online?
Paul: It may be a problem with the notebook interface.
Connie: how would I find out?
Paul: The cache is hardware based... it is physically mounted on the HDD. I cannot see it actually being zero.
Paul: I am sending a report to our lab to verify what is going on. Meanwhile, I wouldn't be satisfied with the performance. I'd call IBM and get the drive replaced.
Connie: I think I may do that after I did what you suggest
Paul: Okay, is there anything else I can do for you?
Connie: by the way from what I've read on the forum thread that I just sent you, the Lenovo folks are saying that your Driver Fitness Test is off
Connie: i don't really believe it, but I just want you to note that when you send in your report
Paul: That may be the case... I don't know for sure. This is why I want this tested.