Hi Robin, Yes I agree, the average normalizes the spikes.. so it's also good to have a validation of the IO numbers you are getting from Oracle from the OS numbers. Also I use these statistical tools for my data points http://karlarao.tiddlyspot.com/#dbms_stat_funcs this one is from Craig Shallahamer gives you a really nice visual distribution of your data points, I modified it a bit so he got that uploaded on his site already.. http://resources.orapub.com/product_p/statsam.htm And.. another thing that you can do when you are investigating on a slow subsystem and drilling down on a subsecond detail is to trace the session and use the Mr. Tools.. particularly the Mr. Skew.. ;) you can do a lot of statistical drill downs on 10046 trace using that tool http://karlarao.tiddlyspot.com/#%5B%5BMr.%20Tools%5D%5D -- Karl Arao karlarao.wordpress.com karlarao.tiddlyspot.com