slow file copy from floppy, CD, and HDD

[swapjim]

It takes about 6-7 seconds to copy a 50MB file from one location of the HDD to another.

It takes about 10-11 seconds to copy a 50MB file from a CD to the HDD. CDROM speed is set at 72X.

It takes about 25 seconds to copy a 1.43MB floppy (about 20 files) to the HDD.

My host hardware is from 2016: i7-6700 @ 3.4GHz, 16GB RAM, SSD, Win7 64-bit. CPU load during copy operation is well under 7%.

Are these speeds normal?

Here is my config:

Code: Select all

gameblaster = 0
gus = 0
ssi2001 = 0
voodoo = 0
model = 430vx
cpu_manufacturer = 0
cpu = 5
cpu_use_dynarec = 1
cpu_waitstates = 0
gfxcard = px_trio64
video_speed = 5
sndcard = sb16
cpu_speed = 16
has_fpu = 1
disc_a = 
disc_b = 
hdd_controller = ide
mem_size = 16384
cdrom_drive = 200
cdrom_channel = 2
cdrom_path = C:\alek\process\projects\vintage Win95 (run)\images\2.ISO
zip_channel = -1
hdc_sectors = 63
hdc_heads = 16
hdc_cylinders = 511
hdc_fn = C:\alek\process\projects\vintage Win95 (run)\dos.img
hdd_sectors = 0
hdd_heads = 0
hdd_cylinders = 0
hdd_fn = 
hde_sectors = 0
hde_heads = 0
hde_cylinders = 0
hde_fn = 
hdf_sectors = 0
hdf_heads = 0
hdf_cylinders = 0
hdf_fn = 
hdg_sectors = 0
hdg_heads = 0
hdg_cylinders = 0
hdg_fn = 
hdh_sectors = 0
hdh_heads = 0
hdh_cylinders = 0
hdh_fn = 
hdi_sectors = 0
hdi_heads = 0
hdi_cylinders = 0
hdi_fn = 
drive_a_type = 7
drive_b_type = 0
bpb_disable = 0
cd_speed = 72
joystick_type = 0
mouse_type = 2
enable_sync = 1
netcard = rtl8029as
lpt1_device = none
vid_resize = 0
video_fullscreen_scale = 0
video_fullscreen_first = 1

[Joysticks]
joystick_0_nr = 0
joystick_1_nr = 0

[SDL2]
screenshot_format = png
screenshot_flash = 1
custom_width = 640
custom_height = 480
fullscreen = 0
fullscreen_mode = 0
scale = 1
scale_mode = 1
vsync = 0
focus_dim = 0
alternative_update_lock = 0
render_driver = auto

[GL3]
input_scale = 1.000000
input_stretch = 0
shader_refresh_rate = 0.000000

[GL3 Shaders]
shaders = 0

[Phoenix S3 Trio64]
memory = 4

[Cirrus Logic GD5429]
memory = 1

[SarahWalker]

Yes, this is similar to the copy speed on a real machine of that vintage. Old drives are slow.

[swapjim]

So it could go faster but it's part of PCem's programming to go slow to emulate these drives?

[szadycbr]

Hi swapjim , the answer is YES and NO . the answer isnt that straight forward. drives from that days were much much slower than todays drives, i just want to tell you , you are happy that PCem do it that way, it is still faster than using real old CD rom and floppy drives . copying files requires a bit of cpu power, the 100mhz 486dx is a like pentium 60mhz , these cpus just cant do it faster, p200mmx can perform 4 times better, but still , if you compare to current interfaces and CPU speeds, memory speeds, bus speeds, etc. it is thousands times faster than this old PCs so you must understand that reading/writting speed does depend on many other components/factors than CD rom Theoritical speed. and YES Sarah does do a loot to still "slow dawn" the CPU's to match real timing speeds so the experience can be exact as on the old hardware

[Cheez]

That doesn't sound like it had anything to do with what Sarah just explained

[SarahWalker]

I think I have a headache now from trying to read that.

Slow drives is a deliberate design choice, similar to emulating a CPU at a specific speed rather than going as fast as possible. That's just what PCem does.

[swapjim]

Ah, yes, emulation, not virtual machine.

Alright. Thanks!