Real-world Storage Media Transfer Rates

Something that I did today was compare real-world transfer rates between different types of storage media using different interfaces.  Now I recognize that there are many variables which will make a difference to these results, but this is no fancy setup and I believe these results are achievable by everyone using similar equipment.

HP Pro 3130 small form factor with 8Gb RAM running Windows 7 Pro x64
Startech USB 3.0 PCIe Card (PEXUSB3S2)
LG N1A1 NAS
Kingston Datatraveller Elite 3.0 16Gb
Zyxel Gigabit switch (GS-105B)
Zyxel Fast-ethernet switch (ES-108A)

Tests were performed using Crystal Disk Mark 3.0.1 x64

Results

	Read (Mb/s)	Write (Mb/s)
Sata 300 HDD	83.11	89.53
Sata 300 SSD	136.7	35.26
USB 3.0	80.62	35.7
USB 2.0	21	5
Fast-ethernet	8	11
Gigabit ethernet	42.5	38.75

Conclusion

From these results we can conclude that USB 3 represents a very real 4 times increase in speed.  Using gigabit ethernet to access network devices increases speed by 5 times.  But, a cheap SSD may not improve speed in the way that you were hoping.

I now have a Wireless N router so I may shortly compare Wireless N to Wireless G for datatransfer so stay tuned.

If you are looking for speed improvements with you network and don't know where to start then as always contact The PC Support Group on 0845 2233116