Re: Speed Performance Question

On Wed, Nov 06, 2002 at 12:09:02 +0200,
  Kapsalis Nikos <nkapsal@bbdogroup.gr> wrote:
> I am using Postgres 7.1.3 with :
>   PIII 800Mhz
>   Memory 256Mb
>   HD 20 Gb 7200 rpm
>   on a Redhat 7.2
>
> I have a Database that has about 12 tables.
> In one of these tables called X_TABLE there are about 13000 records.
>
> When I am trying to execute a query from the psql prompt :
>     :> UPDATE X_TABLE SET ytd=0;
>
> It takes more than 1 minute to finish.
>
> Is that time OK ??

That time sounds high.
Have you done anything to optimize your hard drive accesses? On at least
earlier versions of RH (with a 2.2 kernel) you can get a large (x20)
increase in disk I/O throughput by using hdparm. The default is to be
very conservative about assumptions on what a disk can do, but other than
ancient disks, you can push them a lot harder. It is possible this information
is outdated now and that IDE device detection and configuration is improved.