SB-RKT4P-4TB slower read speeds in linux over time

• l

  linuxssd

  10/8/25, 1:48 PM

  I have two SB-RKT4P-4TB SSDs running on a Linux system with kernel 6.2.0-37-generic

  The speed was originally fine on them a couple of years ago, but the drives have been getting noticebly slower and slower over time.  Usage patterns have not changed.  Originally when I started/opened OpenOffice for the first time it would display the initial splash-dialog in less than a second, but now it takes a solid 5-10 seconds.

  Smartctl yields no errors.  Trim is enabled and has been running weekly - most recent result:

  Oct 06 00:03:42 mint2 fstrim[2657178]: /: 80.2 GiB (86149525504 bytes) trimmed on /dev/nvme0n1p2

  Used fio for some randread tests on them:

  fio --name=read_iops --directory=. --size=10G \
  --time_based --runtime=20s --ramp_time=2s --ioengine=libaio --direct=1 \
  --verify=0 --bs=4K --iodepth=64 --rw=randread --group_reporting=1

  results are very similar between the two:

  read: IOPS=349k, BW=1362MiB/s (1428MB/s)(26.6GiB/20001msec)

  read: IOPS=342k, BW=1337MiB/s (1402MB/s)(26.1GiB/20001msec)

  My understanding is that these drives should be much closer to 6000MB/s  rather than 1400MB/s

  Please advise

   

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• TS

  The Sabrent Informer Admin Staff

  10/9/25, 4:27 PM

  Hello @linuxssd, 
  
  The fio test you ran measured small-block random read performance (4K blocks, high queue depth). These results are normal for that workload and do not reflect the drive’s maximum sequential read throughput. To evaluate the expected performance, you’ll need to run a large-block sequential read test. 
  
  Regarding your application slowdown issue, I will check in with the team and let you know if I can find a resolution. 

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• l

  linuxssd

  10/11/25, 8:15 AM

  Thank you for replying.  I should point out that the OpenOffice scenario was just a relatable example.  Any operation that has to access many small files has grown much slower over time.  Another example is simply "grep"ing recursively a directory of thousands of files.  Similarly, when receiving a new version of a particular library from a vendor and sync'ing it in Intellij Idea (a java IDE) it has to unzip/scan through thousands of new files and that takes much longer now also.  There are many more examples but the common theme appears to be reading lots of small files.   That's why I thought randread would be a better test than sequential.   Is there a different test I can run to identify what the cause of the slowdown is?  Or is there something I can measure while I'm doing one of these slow activities that will yield insights into the root cause?

  Additionally, the usage of these drives is only at 44% and 29% (i.e. to rule-out the scenario where SSDs drop in performance when they are closer to 100% capacity)

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• l

  linuxssd

  10/11/25, 8:58 AM

  I'm reading about TLC NAND degradation over time and came across this bit of information:

  Read-retry optimization: As cells degrade, the SSD may need to re-read a page multiple times with adjusted voltage levels to retrieve data correctly, which increases latency.

  Is there a test I can run on these SSDs to determine how many times they might be re-reading a page until the data is retrieved correctly? 

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• TS

  The Sabrent Informer Admin Staff

  10/12/25, 3:42 PM

  @linuxssd 

  Thank you for the additional details and examples. The slowdown on many small-file operations aligns with some behaviors we’ve encountered related to how the controller manages older data and read retries over time.

  Could you please provide the serial # (on the backside label) and the current firmware revision of your drive? This will help determine if you are on the version where we expect such behavior or if a firmware update might help. We appreciate your patience as we investigate.

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• l

  linuxssd

  10/17/25, 10:05 AM

  drive 1 - 470207270EA300012025, firmware R4PB47.3

  drive 2 - 470207270EA300012021, firmware R4PB47.3

  On another note, I am not receiving emails when someone replies on this thread even though the setting is enabled on my profile.  Is there a different setting I need to change in order to be notified when someone replies?

  Thanks much

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• l

  linuxssd

  10/27/25, 5:03 PM

  @The Sabrent Informer

  Checking back to see if you saw my reply where I provided the details you requested.  Any update?

  Thanks

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• S

  Sabrent Admin Staff

  10/29/25, 5:37 PM

  @linuxssd Sorry about that. You can probably get the firmware update through support with the details, if not there's a link here. As for email notification, this is currently not operational but thank you for making us aware of it. It's something we can fix.

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