The situation in WorkStation pattern is very similar to DataBase. So, what happened with the former leader? Is it the access time that reminds of itself here?

Now let’s check out the FileServer and WebServer patterns:

As the workload in WebServer pattern increases, 6Y120P0-80 regains its reputation, while 6Y120P0-60 starts up really greatly but then falls behind even its younger brother – 6Y120L0-60. We observe the same situation in FileServer pattern, too. Let’s draw a few parallels with the DataBase test. We saw a similar performance reduction during reading under maximum HDD workload. At the same time, we do not see anything like that by 6Y120P0-80 model featuring a cache-buffer of the same size but platters with larger data density. Maybe the firmware of 6Y120P0-60 simply turns out in a not very favorable situation with this platter density and workload type. For example, the cache-buffer string length doesn’t go well with the track size. Anyway, Firmware is exactly the one to blame for this performance drop. And in case of 6Y120P0-80 we should look into big access time value.

Well, it’s high time we summed up the performance in various Intel IOMeter patterns. During sequential reading of data blocks the HDDs run according to their performance class. However, during random data access 6Y120P0-80, the top model with 8MB cache-buffer and 80GB platters, is not always the leader, though the large cache size as well as large data density do have their effect under heavier workload. It could be one of the firmware peculiarities, although I wouldn’t exclude the possibility of a certain HDD supply. Anyway, there is one more reason explaining this behavior of the 6Y120P0-80 drive. The largest access time revealed by HDTach benchmark couldn’t remain unnoticed. It is also pretty strange that the performance of the 6Y120P0-60 model slows down under maximum workload in FileServer and WebServer patterns. Again, let’s consider Firmware responsible for that. Again, I have to repeat that the results difference is not that drastic, especially in average modes.