Performance in FC-Test

FC-Test allows measuring the performance of a Hard Disk drive in real-life tests. The Hard Disk drives are evaluated by their success at processing certain file patterns. The speed is calculated basing on the time it takes the drive to perform the writing, reading and copying of the patterns.

Windows and Programs patterns consist of many small-size files, while MP3, ISO and Install patterns include fewer files of a bigger size. For the copy operations two 32GB partitions are created on the drives. The patterns are then copied within one partition (copy near) and from one partition to another (copy far).

First, we attach the drives via the USB 2.0 interface.

NTFS comes first. The diagram above shows the file creation (i.e. write) speeds of the drives and, as you see, the Seagate is on the losing side in almost all of the patterns with the only exception of the ISO pattern where it takes the second place. You may note that the Seagate has the worst performance in comparison with the other drives in the two patterns that include numerous small-size files.

The read operation improves the situation for the Seagate that can be considered third in this test. Here, the gap between it and the leaders isn?t very big.

When copying files within one partition, the Seagate looks confident enough. It is the fastest in three patterns and took second and third places in the remaining two patterns.

The last diagram also speaks of a good performance of the Seagate drive as it wins three patterns out of five in the copy-far test and takes one second and one third place in the other two patterns.