160GB 2.5" HDD, partly slower after Spinrite level 2?

[lovecakeboy]

Here are my results running Readspeed on a hard drive in an (estimated as 10 years old) Asus eeePC 1015 PEM (second hand, only very light use from me). Readspeed was run as "rs /1" - I have included the first 8 individual results for brevity. Starting with before the Spinrite run:

Driv Size  Drive Identity     Location:    0      25%     50%     75%     100
---- ----- ---------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
 81  160GB ST9160314AS                    62.5    59.9    53.7    45.9    32.7
---- ----- ---------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
                                          61.5    63.3    56.1    47.7    33.4
                                          66.2    60.9    52.1    44.1    33.6
                                          62.9    63.7    50.2    42.6    31.8
                                          50.2    60.3    52.3    46.4    33.1
                                          65.9    58.7    56.0    48.8    33.4
                                          61.4    56.3    54.4    47.3    33.9
                                          58.6    58.7    56.7    46.7    31.8
                                          61.2    63.4    55.4    42.7    32.8

After Spinrite Level 2 pass:

Driv Size  Drive Identity     Location:    0      25%     50%     75%     100
---- ----- ---------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
 81  160GB ST9160314AS                    62.1    59.9    53.7    45.8    32.7
---- ----- ---------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
                                          56.7    63.3    56.1    47.7    33.4
                                          52.0    60.9    52.1    44.1    33.6
                                          62.9    63.7    50.2    42.6    31.8
                                          50.2    60.2    52.3    46.4    33.1
                                          65.9    58.8    56.0    48.8    33.4
                                          61.2    56.3    54.4    47.3    33.9
                                          58.7    58.7    56.7    46.7    31.8
                                          61.2    63.4    55.4    42.7    32.8

Does this imply that Spinrite's Level 2 read-only pass is still causing the HDD to rejig things on the platter? I ran Spinrite on this laptop when I first bought Spinrite, around September 2019, so I wouldn't expect a big change now as it has only had occasional use (it's a spare for emergency use / testing.)

Interesting that the variability between runs is in the early part of the drive.

Also interesting that the first two speed measurements at 0% both were slower after the Spinrite run. Anyone have any ideas why this may be the case?

 

[lovecakeboy]

Has anyone noticed other results where a Spinrite pass has produced slower speeds afterwards? I thought I remembered seeing one the other day, but haven't been able to find it since!

 

[AlanD]

I am not sure that it is statistically significant. Yes, there is a difference, but it is only about 0.6%, probably within allowable tolerances. SpinRite probably can't do much for the first bit of a drive as that will be the boot sector and partition table, which can't be moved.

 

[lovecakeboy]

I am not sure that it is statistically significant. Yes, there is a difference, but it is only about 0.6%, probably within allowable tolerances. SpinRite probably can't do much for the first bit of a drive as that will be the boot sector and partition table, which can't be moved.

Thanks for your reply!

I don't think it is a measuring error. The other results seem extremely repeatable, and surely the whole point of Readspeed is its super accuracy? I'll re-test it and check for repeatability

If the area can't be moved, it still doesn't explain why it's apparently come out slower?