i7 16GB transfer speed

[damole]

hi

I've been testing my i7 using teracopy and I don't seem to be able to get better than 1.8 MBps whereas the specs say I should be able to get up to 5 MBps. I formatted the drive before testing with a cluster size of 16KB as described on the Cowon website.

What speeds are others getting?

--damole

[guilc]

Mine is currently doing 11MB/s, so much better. (yes, 11MBytes, not 11Mbits)
I noticed that not only the cluster size is important, but also the partition alignement.

To achieve this, on windows, you should format the i7 with sdformatter (http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/). Yes, the i7 is not a sdcard, but it works perfectly and fix the transfer rate issue. This will recreate the partition table and reformat the player with the good alignement and cluster size.
This is the simplest solution on windows !

If you are using linux, you have to take care of the partition alignement using the LAST util-linux tools (2.17.2 is fine) and use fdisk in non dos-compatible mode (fdisk -u -c /dev/sdX). It's because only the last util-linux version handle correctly the partition alignement for SD/flash/4k drives disks. Then reformat the player as usually with dosfstools.

[bemymonkey]

Hi Guilc,

Which options should one set on the SD formatting utility?

My iAudio7 is showing atrocious transfer speeds (500-700 KB/sec!), so I'm hoping reformatting properly will help...

Can I just format? Or do I need to back up the directories (system files etc.) on the player first?

[damole]

I tried using the sdformat utility but the drive was formatted with FAT16 format and not recognised by XP.

[bemymonkey]

Worked OK for me (just went for it) and brought my transfer speeds back up to acceptable levels (~4MB/s... is that normal for the 8GB version?)

[damole]

So at first I had only tried it on a old 2GB flash drive I had but after seeing bemymonkey's results I decided just to go for it on my iAudio. I just formatted it quick, no erase, format size adjustment off. After formatting the drive wasn't recognized by XP (FAT16) but I unplugged it and plugged it back in and the format was now FAT32 with just the SYSTEM folder. I tested it again and now I'm getting the expected 5.5MB/s.

Strangely I formatted my Sandisk Cruzer 16GB flash drive and that was formatted at FAT32 by default.

Thanks to both of you!

[mraines]

The fix for this was posted on the cowonglobal.com web site if you search for it.

"We analyzed the cause of the problem that the USB transfer speed of iAUDIO 7 was different from the specifications. We found out that some of iAUDIO 7 16 GB products were set the landmemory cluster as 8 KB. It should be 16KB.

If iAUDIO 7 16 GB product is set 16 KB memory cluster, the transfer speed (Write: max 40Mbps, Read: max 40Mbps) will work well. (Please remind that the transfer speed will be dropped if you set other unit.)

Please check the below how to set the memory cluster unit as 16 KB of iAUDIO 7 16GB.


We regret the inconvenience caused and kindly request your understanding. We strive more to provide the best customer service as much as possible."

╋╋ How to fix the USB transfer speed of iAUDIO 7 - 16GB ╋╋

1. Please connect iAUDIO 7 16 GB to a PC via USB cable.

2. Please click Start Button and go to Control Panel. (Based on Windows XP)

3. Please open Administrative Tools. (Please click on 'Switch to Classic view' if you can not find it.)

4. Please open Computer Management.

5. Please click Disk management under Storage category.

6. Please right click iAUDIO 7 16GB and select ‘Format’.

★Caution★
Please make sure to select iAUDIO 7 16GB removal disk. If you select a normal HDD, your PC will be formatted.

7. Please click OK on the warning window.

8. Please set Allocation unit size as 16 K and click OK on the popup window.

9. After format, now you can use your iAUDIO 7.

[bemymonkey]

Hi, what cluster size should the 8GB model be set to?

[mraines]

The Cowon FAQ states:

It does not matter of iAUDIO 7 4GB and 8GB, so it is not necessary.

[damole]

I appreciate the reminder but I had stated in my original post that I already followed that advice and it didn't make any difference. One thing that the sdformatter does at least for 16GB devices is format them with a cluster size of 32kb.

[bemymonkey]

Ah ok, thanks...

[mraines]

I reposted the original link since it worked for me.
Thanks.

[djchristian]

How can i see which cluster size my iaudio 7 is before doing any format and such?

[damole]

Open a command window (assumes you are using Windows) enter:

chkdsk e:

where e is the drive letter.


Just to be sure I've re-formatted my Sandisk Cruzer Contour 16GB using the SDFormat tool, quick format, format size adjustment off. After formatting I had to unplug it and plug it back in to have Windows recognize it. Immediately I'm getting the rated 18Mbps write speed from the specs.

--damole

[azur]

Hello,

I'm new here, this is my first post. I'm a french user of a cowon Iaudio7 16GO (and 2 other one).

Of course, mine also suffering about slow transfert speed and this thread has given to me some informations ;-)

I have saved my datas on the cowon and I have made some tests with a tool called:

FAT32 format:

http://www.01net.com/telecharger/win...es/104584.html

The FAT32 format create 512 blocks with differents clusters size.

My AudioI7 was formatted in factory with allocation unit size of 8192 (clusters). The advice found (here or on the cowon site) is to use 16384 but I have found that the speed hasn't been increased enough. I have changed to 32768 and miraculously the speed had been increased enough this time.

For testing, I have just quick formatting with FAT32 format the Iaudio7, with differents clusters size and after the quick format, the informations and time used by FAT32 format utility allready show that 32768 is the good value (around 5.7mo/s for quick formatting with FAT32 format).

For testing, I have copied, from the harddrive to the cowon I audio7, a drawer with files (315 mo of size). the time used: 75 seconds that mean a speed of 4.7 Mo/s !!!

Visually this time, one files is copied each seconds and my 12 go of files has been moved from the Harddrive to the Iaudio7 with half an hour !!!

Effectively, the cluster is important but IMHO 32768 is the good value for Cowon Iaudio7.

Hope my maybe one and only post will be usefull ;-)

bye