2.6.x and OnTrack

[alcalde]

On 2.4.x kernels, hdparm -t gives a rating of about 27 for my main drive (IDE66 running on IDE33 motherboard). The drive is 75GB and using OnTrack to overcome the 32GB limit of the motherboard; I need this as Windows is also on this PC.

While working on setting up a Gentoo partition on this PC, I've noticed something about the 2.6.x kernels however. The 2.6.x kernels no longer have auto-checking for things like OnTrack built-in and you must use hdx=remap63 as a boot parameter so it can recognize the partitions. However, when this is done, hdparm -t results drop to around 17, quite a big hit.

The 2.4 core of the Gentoo install CD gives the 27 for hdparm -t, as do several LiveCDs I've tried. I also compiled the 2.4 Gentoo kernel and got a 27 result. The 2.6 mm and love kernels both give 17, so I'm fairly convinced it's something with the kernel. I've also fiddled with all sorts of settings under 2.6 with no luck. There's no special settings at all required to get 27 under any 2.4 kernel.

My questions are whether or not this is to be expected, and whether there is some other boot parameter or such I need to use to get decent HD performance with an OnTrack drive and 2.6?

P.S. This problem is not one of hdparm settings, dma, or not using the proper IDE chipset in the kernel; I've gleaned all that from these boards and tried all that before posting here.

P.P.S. Two weeks I've been trying to get a Gentoo system up and all I've got so far is a text-only system with sub-par hard drive performance. Once this problem is solved I need to figure out why the Xine package in kdemultimedia won't compile, and how to get my All-In-Wonder Radeon working, which I've gathered is another painful task. And here I thought I'd have removed my XP partition forever already. All that said, after spending two weeks playing with about 2 dozen distros and LiveCDs, Gentoo was the only one I really wanted to put the effort into getting to work on my system, so I really do like what it's about.