So I noticed another of my ubuntu boxes was running slow so I did a
Host:~$ sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing buffered disk reads: 8 MB in 3.72 seconds = 2.15 MB/sec
so it looks like it has the same issue as my other machine
so I did
Host:~$ sudo lspci |grep -i ide
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
Host:~$ lsmod |grep -i ^libata
libata 159344 4 pata_acpi,pata_via,ata_generic,sata_via
and added the following to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
blacklist ata_generic
and the following to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
pata_via
blacklist ata_generic
then rebuild initramfs
sudo update-initramfs -u -v
After a reboot I now get
sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing buffered disk reads: 164 MB in 3.02 seconds = 54.38 MB/sec
Amazing what this little tweak will do for performance.