Benchmarks: File Copy Test
For our 6GB ISO test we take a single large file and duplicate it on the disk measuring the time it takes using a stopwatch. The test is run three times and the average result is recorded, more often than not the three runs are very much the same.
When dealing with large files the Kingston SNV425-S2 64GB really stood out taking just 77 seconds to complete the copy. The next fastest SSD was the OCZ Agility 2 40GB which took 112 seconds (46% longer). The ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB produced a similar result while surprisingly the OCZ Vertex 2 was 7% slower than the slightly cheaper Agility 2.
You will see that the traditional 3.5" 7200-RPM hard disk drive does well here with a completion time of 127 seconds making it only slightly slower than the OCZ Agility 2, Vertex 2 and ADATA S596 Turbo drives. This is likely due to the fact that access times are not an issue here as we are working with a single large file.
This test placed the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB at a slight disadvantage when compared to the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB as this test found it to be 3% slower. The OCZ Oynx 32GB/64GB and Intel X25-V 40GB SSDs were left behind, all three took between 152 and 156 seconds to complete the test.
Here are the 6GB ISO file copy test results in megabytes per second and as you can see the Kingston SNV425-S2 64GB was blazing fast with a throughput of 74MB/s. The OCZ Agility 2 40GB and ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB managed a throughput of 50MB/s making them the next quickest drives tested while the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB HDD which was used for comparison purposes managed 48MB/s.
The Seagate Momentus XT 500GB was able to sustain 43MB/s which is not bad for a mechanical 2.5" drive. However the throughput of the OCZ Onyx 32/64GB and Intel X25-V 40GB SSDs was quite poor as we saw just 36 - 37MB/s which is much slower than a conventional hard drive.
The program copy test is made up of many small non-compressed files. This is where SSDs typically struggle and in the past cheaper drives have proven to be slower than traditional hard drives. Our reference Samsung 3.5" desktop hard drive managed to complete the test in 28 seconds making it a fraction faster than the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB.
Three SSDs were able to best this result: the Kingston SNV425-S2 64GB, OCZ Agility 2 40GB and OCZ Vertex 2 40GB. Again we found that the Agility 2 40GB was slightly faster than the Vertex 2 40GB drive while the Kingston SNV425-S2 64GB was able to better them both.
The biggest difference we see in this test when compared to the first using a single large file is that the ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB is now considerably slower.
The throughput numbers saw the Kingston SNV425-S2 64GB sustain a transfer rate of 58MB/s while the OCZ Agility 2 40GB which was the next fastest drive provided 53MB/s. The OCZ Vertex 2 40GB tied with the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB with 51MB/s. The OCZ Onyx and Intel X25-V 40GB SSDs remained quite slow with a throughput of roughly 42MB/s. The ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB was by far the slowest with just 34MB/s.
The game copy evaluation comprises of a mixture of small and large files. Interestingly, while most of the drives are quicker than they were in the program test the ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB became even slower. The S596 Turbo 32GB stands out and not in a good way taking more than twice as long to complete the same task as the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB and even the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB drive.
In this test most of the SSDs performed much like the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB which completed the test in 25 seconds. Besides the ADATA S596 Turbo 32GB the OCZ Onyx 32/64GB SSDs also stood out as weak links.
Something you may have noticed is that the Intel X25-V 40GB has jumped up the charts to third position for the game test. Before it was the third slowest drive in the program test and the slowest in our ISO file copy test.
For the game test many of the results were very similar with the majority of the field producing a throughput somewhere between 50MB/s and 60MB/s.