And now let’s check these external drives out in NTFS.

The two enclosures with SATA and eSATA interfaces prove their superiority over the rest of the participating devices in the file writing test. The two devices with a FireWire interface can also be marked out, along with the USB-connected ViPowER VPA-35018 and Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU that aren’t far slower than them. The AgeStar ICB5A is the slowest when connected via USB 2.0, but not far worse than its closest opponent.

The read speed diagram shows how much better the enclosures with SATA and eSATA interfaces are in comparison with the others. And the Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU is the ultimate leader. These are followed by the two enclosures that work across a FireWire interface. The ViPowER VPA-35018 and the Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU are considerably faster than the rest of USB-connected enclosures. The others show similar results.

The enclosures with SATA and eSATA interfaces are the fastest in this test, too. This time the Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU enjoys an even bigger advantage over its rival. Besides them, the AgeStar ICB5A1 is good when working across a FireWire connection. Another FireWire-connected device – AgeStar ICB5A – is slower and roughly similar in performance to the USB-connected ViPowER VPA-35018 and Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU. The slowest enclosure is the AgeStar ICB5A connected to a USB 2.0 port.

The final diagram in this review shows the speed of copying files from one partition to another. It’s all the same as in the previous tests, with the enclosures connected via SATA and eSATA interfaces being the best of all. And the Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU is the ultimate leader, again. Among the rest of devices we can single out the two FireWire-connected enclosures as well as the USB-connected ViPowER VPA-35018 and Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU. And once again we see that the AgeStar ICB5A is the slowest enclosure when connected across a USB 2.0 interface.

Note also that the Tsunami Speed 3500S delivers the same performance irrespective of the interface (SATA or PATA) of the installed hard drive.