Performance in FC-Test

As always, FC-Test is the last of our tests. Being indicative of the real-life performance of hard disk drives, this benchmarking tool measures the time it takes to create (i.e. to write), to read and to copy a few sets of files that differ in the size and number of files included. Knowing this time we can calculate the speed of the drive.

The Windows and Programs patterns consist of many smaller files, while the other three patterns include several large files. Two 32GB partitions are created on the drives for the copy operations and the file patterns are first copied within the same partition (copy near) and then from one partition to another (copy far).

We begin with the NTFS results.

The first diagram shows the speed of creating (writing) the file patterns. As you see, the drive delivers the highest speed when connected via FireWire800, especially when writing large files. FireWire400 is second best, being preferable to USB 2.0 across all the patterns.

FireWire800 wins again, being less of a bottleneck than the other two interfaces. FireWire400 is less efficient, but works faster than USB 2.0 in four patterns out of five.

The next diagram shows the speed of the drive at copying files within one partition. Once again, FireWire800 proves to be the best interface. FireWire400 outperforms USB 2.0 in three patterns out of five. It is only at copying patterns with numerous small files that FireWire400 isn’t much better than USB 2.0 since the interface bandwidth becomes less important in this case.

It’s only in the copy far test that the FireWire800 interface doesn’t boast an overwhelming advantage over its opponents: the drive is slower with FireWire800 than with FireWire400 in the Install pattern. The USB 2.0 interface, however, remains the slowest of the three.