Hi,

Thanks for the response.

Under Ubuntu (NB the drive was under /dev/sdb under Ubuntu - is this a clue?!?):-

 HDIO_GET_UNMASKINTR failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
 HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

Under Centos (as /dev/hda):-

Both set to 0, so I tried to set them to 1. -d1 error as inappropriate but -u was allowed to be set. It didn't make much difference to the performance, i.e. up from ~ 2.5MB/Sec to 4MB/Sec.

as a refernence, -I gives...

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       Maxtor 6E040L0                         
    Serial Number:      E1L01XLE           
    Firmware Revision:  NAR61590
Standards:
    Used: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 0
    Supported: 7 6 5 4
Configuration:
    Logical        max    current
    cylinders    16383    16383
    heads        16    16
    sectors/track    63    63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:   78156288
    device size with M = 1024*1024:       38162 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:       40016 MBytes (40 GB)
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16    Current = 16
    Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x00fe)
    Recommended acoustic management value: 192, current value: 0
    DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled    Supported:
       *    SMART feature set
            Security Mode feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    Host Protected Area feature set
       *    WRITE_VERIFY command
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    NOP cmd
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Advanced Power Management feature set
            SET_MAX security extension
            Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
       *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
Security:
    Master password revision code = 65534
        supported
    not    enabled
    not    locked
        frozen
    not    expired: security count
    not    supported: enhanced erase
HW reset results:
    CBLID- above Vih
    Device num = 0 determined by CSEL
Checksum: correct
   

Thanks,

Ian.