I'm running 32-bit Gentoo Linux with the 2.6.24-gentoo-r4 SMP kernel. Ever since I re-installed about 6 months ago, everything involving disk access seems to slow the system down, even if the CPU is only reading 30-40%. The system doesn't grind to a halt, but I notice a significant lag. Also, anything involving lots of small files seems to to take an awfully long time (hours). I have two Maxtor IDE drives using ext3 and hdparm indicates that I have dma enabled on both of them and that the access... read more
