Performance in Intel IOMeter: File Server & Web Server Patterns

We compare the drives by averaging their speeds under four workloads. This performance rating doesn’t include the 256-requests load.

Four drives on top have left the rest of the participants far behind. They are: two Hitachi HDDs, the Seagate ST3160023AS (with firmware 3.05) and the WD1600JB.

The three samples of the ST3160023AS model from Seagate with different firmware versions allow us evaluating the influence of the firmware on the performance in this pattern. Obviously version 3.05 handles this pattern better than the others – the drive with firmware 3.18 found itself six steps below it in the results table. The third ST3160023AS, with firmware 3.14, is three positions lower yet.

Next goes the Web Server pattern:

That’s a curious outcome: the Hitachi team occupies the pinnacle of the podium, and the Seagate ST3160023AS in its three incarnations has nestled a little lower. The bottom of the diagram mostly consists of the remaining PATA drives from Seagate and two devices from Maxtor.