SATA II to the Power of 3.0Gb/sec: Three Drives Reviewed

WinBench 99 - Transfer Rate Test

We ran WinBench 99's Disk Transfer Rate Test to get a better measure of just how well the transfer rates are over the course of the entire disk. The Disk Transfer Rate test reads from the media in a linear fashion from the beginning (1st track) to the end (last track). The numbers below represent the ceiling and floor of the transfer rates throughout the test.

Samsungs HD160JJ holds its own during Winbench 99's Transfer Rate Test. The drive never drops below about 57.4MB/sec while the T7K250 has a 50% drop in transfer rate when it reaches the end of the test. The WD1600JS does a little better than the Hitachi drive but not as well as the HD160JJ's close to constant transfer rates throughout the read. Since the last track is on the inside of the platter, transfer rates are lower because of the proximity of each bit compared to those on the outer tracks. Because this test is synthetic, we have not put much emphasis on the results.