How to Test Hard Drive Performance
Below is a url’s to a web site that has a hard drive test utility:
www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HD-Tach.shtml
the url’s should link to the program file for: HD Tach 3.0.4.0
Please download the test program and install it
Once installed, run the Quick Bench test and check the results as pictured below.
The graph displays the read speed. The outer sectors of a drive are always faster than the center of the disk. As the drive fills up with data, the drive slows down. For maximum performance the database.nv2 files should be parked near the beginning or outer sectors of the drive (this can be achieved with defragmentation settings).
The most important number is the Average read: 77.3 MB/s
Real World Results
Computer Hardware |
Burst speed |
Average read |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Average workstations and servers should be equal to or higher than |
100 MB/s |
75 MB/s |
|
| Server built in November 2007 | WD Raptor SATA WD1500ADFD drives in RAID 10 configuration.
ASUS P5K-E motherboard, Intel E6850 Core 2 Duo CPU 3.0 Ghz. |
235 MB/s |
134 MB/s |
| Workstation built in July 2008 | Seagate ST31000340AS Barracuda drives in RAID 1 configuration.
ASUS P5E motherboard, Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo CPU 3.0 Ghz. |
105.7 MB/s |
77.3 MB/s |
| Sample computer from 2008 | WD VelociRaptor SATA WD3000GLFS drives in RAID 10 configuration.
ASUS P5E motherboard, Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo CPU 3.0 Ghz. |
> 275 MB/s |
> 155 MB/s |
| Workstation built in February 2013 | WD VelociRaptor SATA WD1000DHTZ.
ASUS P8 motherboard, Intel i7 3770K CPU 3.5 Ghz. |
412.1 MB/s |
170.6 MB/s |
| Workstation built in February 2013 | Intel SSD 520 (240GB). ASUS P8 motherboard, Intel i7 3770K CPU 3.5 Ghz. |
417.9 MB/s |
399.5 MB/s |