X-bit labs

External Hard Disk Drives Roundup: 160GB Storage Capacity (page 10)

Category: Storage

by Aleksey Meyev

[ 02/27/2008 | 09:51 AM ]

Web-Server, File-Server, Workstation Patterns

This group of tests simulates disk loads typical of servers and workstations. Such applications are not typical for mobile devices, so I won’t analyze the results deeply. The names of the patterns are self-explanatory.

The Workstation pattern is used with the full capacity of the drive as well as with a 32GB partition. The request queue is limited to 32 requests in the Workstation pattern.

The results are presented as performance ratings which are calculated by the following formulas:

Rating (File-Server) = Total I/O (queue=1)/1 + Total I/O (queue=4)/2 + Total I/O (queue=16)/4 + Total I/O (queue=64)/6 + Total I/O (queue=256)/8

Rating (Web-Server) = Total I/O (queue=1)/1 + Total I/O (queue=4)/1 + Total I/O (queue=16)/2 + Total I/O (queue=64)/4 + Total I/O (queue=256)/6

Rating (Workstation) = Total I/O (queue=1)/1 + Total I/O (queue=2)/1 + Total I/O (queue=4)/2 + Total I/O (queue=8)/3 + Total I/O (queue=16)/4.

This test is won by the Teac HD-15 PUS which takes two first places when working on its eSATA and USB interfaces. The ZIV 2, Teac HD-15 PUK-B and ZIV Pro (curiously enough, this drive has almost identical results on both interfaces) and the Fujitsu HandyDrive are the losers.

Just like in the previous test, the hard disk drive installed into the external solution has the biggest effect on the performance here. In this case small access time during reading brings the victory to Seagate and Maxtor solutions. The losers here are both solutions from ZIV, TEAC HD-15 PUK-B and Fujitsu HandyDrive.

The Teac HD-15 PUS takes first places with its two interfaces again. It is closely followed by the drives from Transcend and Toshiba. Last places are occupied by the ZIV 2, the USB-connected ZIV Pro, and the Teac HD-15 PUK-B.

There are but minor changes at the bottom of the table when the test zone is reduced to 32GB. The Maxtor has replaced the ZIV Pro among the outsiders. The Teac HD-15 PUS with both its interfaces is in the lead, followed by the drives from Transcend and Toshiba.