X-bit labs

Nine External Enclosures for 2.5” Hard Disk Drives Roundup (page 15)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 01/31/2006 | 02:18 PM ]

Now let’s see if the file system makes any difference. Here are the NTFS results:

Well you can see at once that there are no dramatic changes as opposed to the FAT32 numbers. The Sarotech FHD-254UF2 is again on top, using its FireWire interface. It then becomes the slowest as we attach it to a USB 2.0 port. There is again a group of six enclosures showing very similar results. Two more devices are not so fast: the Agestar IUB2A6 and the Tekram TR-621S.

Connected via FireWire, the Sarotech FHD-254UF2 enjoys a considerable advantage in this file reading test, too. The six enclosures with similar results are slower than the leader through all of the patterns. The Agestar IUB2A6 and the Tekram TR-621S are lower still in the results table. The same Sarotech FHD-254UF2 becomes the worst in this test when connected via USB 2.0. Well, this is hardly a surprise anymore.

Copying files within the same disk partition reconfirms the superiority of the FireWire-connected Sarotech FHD-254UF2 over the other participating devices. It is followed by a group of six enclosures that have similar speeds. The Agestar IUB2A6 and the Tekram TR-621S are still slower. The Sarotech FHD-254UF2 catches the spotlight again as it becomes the slowest enclosure when connected via USB 2.0.

The last diagram shows the speed of the drive when copying files from one disk partition to another. We don’t see any big changes since the previous diagrams. The Sarotech FHD-254UF2 connected via FireWire boasts the highest speed, but it is also the slowest when attached to a USB 2.0 port. There are some gaps in the group of six enclosures that have earlier shown very dense results, yet the gaps are still rather small. This group is followed by the Tekram TR-621S and the Agestar IUB2A6