Performance in Intel IOMeter

Sequential Read and Write Patterns

During linear reading tests, Intel IOMeter sends a stream of read/write requests with a request queue depth of 4 to the hard drives. The data block size changes every minute. As a result, we can see the dependence of the drive’s sequential read/write speed on the size of the processed data block. Of course, we would also like to reveal the influence imposed by different types of the interfaces involved.

The hard drive performance best of all when it uses FireWire 800 interface. In this case the linear read speed is maximal for the data blocks of any size. FireWire 400 interface can only compete with FireWire 800 interface on small data blocks. After that it falls considerably behind. When we use USB 2.0, the potential performance of the storage solution gets limited most of all. In this case the linear read speed of the drive appears the lowest.

Nothing new can be found on the linear write speed diagram. FireWire 800 is an indisputable winner here and the drive performs best of all in this case. FireWire 400 interface can guarantee the same efficiency only with 512 Byte data blocks. After that linear write speed starts dropping. USB 2.0 interface is unable to reveal the full potential of the drive. The write speed is considerably lower in case this interface is involved.