Performance in FC-Test

Now we will check performance of the Hard Disk drives with FC-Test. Two 32GB partitions are created on the drives and formatted in NTFS and then in FAT32. A file-set is created of the Hard Disk. This file-set is then read from the disk, copied within the same partition and then copied into another partition. The time taken to perform these operations is measured and the speed of the drive is calculated. To remind you, the Windows and Programs file-sets consist of a large number of small files whereas the other three patterns (ISO, MP3, and Install) include a few large files each.

FAT32 File System

FAT32 results come first.

We see a dramatically different picture when we switch from block requests of the synthetic benchmarks to real-life files. It is the Fujitsu MHW2 BJ that wins this test, being only inferior to the Seagate 7200.7 on large files. The latter has a very low speed on small files, however. It even manages to lose to the 4200rpm Fujitsu MHV2 BT in the Programs pattern. The higher-density 3.5” Seagate 7200.10 is always in the middle of the table, being about as fast as the other 7200rpm drives. Its form-factor doesn’t give it any advantage.

The Hitachi 7K200 has modest results. It is unable to put its advantage in recording density to good use here.

When copying, the results depend less on the specific file-set. The Seagate 7200.10 is victorious although its advantage is shrinking as the average file size gets smaller. The leader is followed by two 2.5” HDDs with high recording density and by the Seagate 7200.7. The latter is ahead of its rival on large files but behind of it on small files.

The Seagate 7200.1 has very modest performance and is overtaken by the Fujitsu MHY2 BH which has a lower spindle rotation speed but a higher recording density.

Copying within the same partition depends on what exactly file-set the drive is dealing with. The Seagate 7200.10 is ahead on very large files but is overtaken by the Hitachi 7K200, and occasionally by the Fujitsu MHW2 BJ, on smaller files. Well, all of the Seagate drives are rather slow when copying small files: the 7200.7 model is inferior to the Fujitsu MHY2 BH, 2.5” HDD with a lower spindle rotation speed, and the 7200.1 model is the slowest of all, including the 4200rpm Fujitsu MHV 2BT.

The Hitachi 7K200 is still good when copying from one partition into another, being slightly inferior to the Seagate 7200.10 on larger files and beating it on small files. The other two drives from Seagate have modest results again.