Can you think of any reason why a filesystem would perform ``okay'' in
single-user, but not under multiuser?

I tried removing everything (except sshd and wscons) from my rc.conf, and
still the disk drive's performance is terrible when I finish booting to
multiuser.

But, if I ``boot -s'' and manually mount filesystems, things are much more
respectable---at least up until such time as I hit ^D to finish the boot
to multiuser.  Then things seem to go right back to ``normal''.


The manual mount is ``mount /dev/wd0e /usr'', for example.  My fstab is:

 /~~~ fstab

/dev/wd0a / ffs rw 1 1
/dev/wd0b none swap sw 0 0
/dev/wd0e /usr ffs rw 1 2
/kern /kern kernfs rw

 \___ fstab


(I don't have any hard evidence of how things run in single user.
However, if I ls my home directory in single-user the contents come up
*much* more snappily than if I list the same directory after a multiuser
boot.)


Should I, at this point, just assume that my disk drive is bad?  (Is the
problem suggestive that it might be getting towards the end of its days
and I'll *really* regret it if I don't move its contents to a new drive?)


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu