Recommend performance tester for HDD

"Mark M" wrote in message ...
"Rod Speed" wrote:


Mark M
wrote in message ...

Can someone here recommend a performance tester for a HDD.

HDTach.

I got some unexpected results at the PC Pitstop website
which said my 120GB Seagate Barracuda V had very poor
uncached performance but was ok for cached performance.
Another drive in the same test, a Barracuda IV, was OK.

I want to look into this.

ISTR that someone here said that SANDRA was not really a good
performance tester.

Correct.

So what would be a better utility?

HDTach.


In looking for HDtach I stumbled across this link to Atto HD
Benchmark at http://www.centris.free-online.co.uk/wreckie.htm

Is this free ATTO disk tester any good?

Dunno, havent tried it. What is wrong with HDTach which at least has
plenty of examples heaps of drive reviews to compare with your own ?

Mark M
wrote in message ...
Rod Speed wrote
Mark M wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Mark M wrote

Can someone here recommend a performance tester for a HDD.

HDTach.

I got some unexpected results at the PC Pitstop website
which said my 120GB Seagate Barracuda V had very poor
uncached performance but was ok for cached performance.
Another drive in the same test, a Barracuda IV, was OK.

I want to look into this.

ISTR that someone here said that SANDRA was not really a
good performance tester.

Correct.

So what would be a better utility?

HDTach.

In looking for HDtach I stumbled across this link to Atto HD
Benchmark at http://www.centris.free-online.co.uk/wreckie.htm

Is this free ATTO disk tester any good?

Dunno, havent tried it. What is wrong with HDTach
which at least has plenty of examples heaps of
drive reviews to compare with your own ?

HD Tach sounds like a good product

Its the only one that attempts to bypass the OS drivers etc.

but I am not that keen on its price at 50 US dollars.

You only need that if the drive is NTFS formatted.

Even if the drive is, with a query about how well the drive subsystem
is performing, you can always ghost the entire physical drive, reformat
FAT32 for the free HDTach test, and then restore the image after that.

"Mark M" wrote in message ...
"Rod Speed" wrote:

In looking for HDtach I stumbled across this link to Atto HD
Benchmark at http://www.centris.free-online.co.uk/wreckie.htm

Is this free ATTO disk tester any good?

Dunno, havent tried it. What is wrong with HDTach
which at least has plenty of examples heaps of drive reviews
to compare with your own ?

HD Tach sounds like a good product

Its the only one that attempts to bypass the OS drivers etc.

but I am not that keen on its price at 50 US dollars.

You only need that if the drive is NTFS formatted.

Even if the drive is, with a query about how well the drive
subsystem is performing, you can always ghost the entire
physical drive, reformat FAT32 for the free HDTach test, and
then restore the image after that.


Thanks for the info, Rod. I didn't realise that the charge was only
for NTFS drives.

I only read ... "The registered version of HD Tach adds write testing
and Windows NT/2000 support. It is available for $49.95."
http://www.tcdlabs.com/hdtach.htm

I will try it.

So, what's your score, cached vs uncached, with HD Tach?