X-bit labs

300GB Storage Devices: Which One is Better? (page 11)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 06/08/2004 | 02:53 PM ]

Performance in PCMark04

The last test in this review is PCMark04 from the well-known Futuremark. We don’t always use this benchmark, which is not sharpened specifically at measuring performance of hard disk drives. Sometimes it produces questionable results, but now we decided to use it anyway. Moreover, all configurations went through the PCMark04 tests to the end.

The first test measures the hard disk drive performance during an OS boot-up. The Maxtor 5A300J0 with its native Ultra ATA interface wins here, followed by its humble self, but in the STLab rack and with FireWire. The external OneTouch drive attached via FireWire is the third. The two configurations with the USB 2.0 interface are the slowest in this test.

Once again, the Maxtor 5A300J0 with the Ultra ATA interface is an unrivalled leader at loading applications. All other configurations perform very much like each other, but you may notice that the same Maxtor 5A300J0 in the STLab rack takes the second and third places, with FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces, respectively, while the OneTouch drive is a bit slower. Once again, we see the FireWire interface being faster than USB 2.0.

The drives were copying files of about 400MB size in this test and the Maxtor 5A300J0 attached to the mainboard’s IDE channel is on top. This same drive, but in the STLab rack, becomes the second with FireWire and the third with USB 2.0. The external Maxtor OneTouch drive occupies the fourth and fifth positions when attached via USB and FireWire, respectively.

The fourth test, General Hard Disk Drive Usage, reflects the performance of the disk subsystem when several applications are running simultaneously. Once again, the Ultra ATA-connected Maxtor 5A300J0 is far ahead of the others. Once again, it takes the second and third places when installed into the STLab rack and attached via FireWire and USB 2.0, respectively. The OneTouch drive, connected through FireWire and USB 2.0, takes the fourth and fifth positions.

The results of PCMark04 suggest that the Maxtor 5A300J0 in the STLab rack is faster than its competitor, the external OneTouch drive, probably because of the lower access time of the 5A300J0 model.