This was the last file creation test; we’ll be doing some reading now.

Let’s examine the results pattern by pattern:

The Hitachi HDS722516VLSA80 and the Maxtor 6Y160M0 read the Install pattern fast, but the same drives with the PATA interface somehow fell behind. The Seagate ST3160021A (with firmware 3.04) took the third place, while another version of the firmware allowed this drive to take 11-th place only.

Two devices from Samsung took the top of the podium, while the ex-leader, the SATA-interfaced Hitachi, is on the third place. The drives with three platters couldn’t challenge the others in the read speed and found themselves at the bottom of the diagram.

Two teams – Hitachi and Maxtor – are again victorious in the MP3 files reading test. The failure of the Samsung drives is quite inexplicable – the best of them, the SP1614N, is only the seventh, while the same drive but with the SATA interface is the 17-th!

The Hitachi HDS722516VLAT80 has a perceptible advantage over the rest of the drives at reading the Programs pattern. The Western Digital team has a meeting at the bottom of the diagram – they have a hard time trying to read small files.

The drives from Maxtor and Hitachi are contending for the leadership in the Windows pattern. Samsung’s and Seagate’s devices are in the middle of the diagram and the Western Digital team is again down at the bottom.