File-Server and Web-Server Patterns

This group of tests simulates disk loads typical of servers. Of course, users are likely to prefer other HDDs in their servers, for example SAS models with a spindle rotation speed of 10,000 or 15,000rpm, but we are just interested to see how these 2.5” HDDs perform under such loads. After all, we’ve got the fastest of 4200rpm and 5400rpm HDDs. The results are presented as performance ratings which are calculated by the following formulas:

Rating (File-Server) = Total I/O (queue=1)/1 + Total I/O (queue=4)/2 + Total I/O (queue=16)/4 + Total I/O (queue=64)/6 + Total I/O (queue=256)/8

Rating (Web-Server) = Total I/O (queue=1)/1 + Total I/O (queue=4)/1 + Total I/O (queue=16)/2 + Total I/O (queue=64)/4 + Total I/O (queue=256)/6

As you could expect, the HDD from Western Digital, which has had excellent results in the Database pattern, is in the lead here, too. It is followed by the Hitachi and Samsung. The HDDs from Fujitsu take last places in this test.

Reading numerous small files simultaneously is what the HDD mostly has to do in the Web-Server pattern. The Hitachi finds this load easy but the WD2500BEVS is almost as fast as the leader. The 5400rpm Fujitsu nearly overtakes the Samsung. The 4200rpm MHX2250BT has the lowest performance rating as you could expect.