Performance in Xbit FC Test

As usual, the tests of real operations with files of varying sizes will help us make our final opinion.

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Step 1: we create (i.e. write) files on the disk.

The SpinPoint P80 handles the problem of uninterruptible data writing just excellently. The bigger-buffer models leave their value counterparts behind on small- and average-size files. The newer firmware versions take effect with these drives, making them work faster with small files. For the 2MB-buffered models, the firmware version doesn’t matter much. There’s a stable advantage over the previous generation, which amounts to 90% at best.

As usual, reading of files is less dependent on the cache buffer size than on the data density. Among curious things here, note the low read speed of the SATA models with very small files.

The speed of copying large files (digital video, for example) is evidently limited by the physical speed of the drives: the models with a reduced recording density are lagging far behind their bigger-platter mates. The 8MB-buffered models occupied the top of the diagram: they are faster on all file types, whatever their interface. They achieve a maximum speed of 25MB/s, and all the models reach as high a speed as 10MB/s and more at copying numerous small files.

Now that we have increased the distance between the departure and destination points (we’re now copying from one logical volume to another), the speeds diminished, although slightly so. The drives mostly kept their positions, too. The PATA and SATA models with an 8MB buffer are in the lead: all the models of the SpinPoint P80 family outperform the previous generation, and we see no differences between the firmware versions.