Linux Usage & Performance

For Linux, I'm going to run the tests much the same as I did in Windows. Instead of utilizing a full-fledged benchmark utility such as HDTach or Bonnie++, I'm relying on hdparm's built-in benchmarking utilities. hdparm stands for Hard Drive Parameters, and adjusts just that. Specifically, hdparm has a wide set of tools for ATA drives, such as adjusting the DMA. For other drives, the options become much more limited, as they rely more on hardware settings than software.

Using the '-t' flag, hdparm returns the buffered disk reads, or essentially the average read speed.

# hdparm -t /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb: 
 Timing buffered disk reads:   116MB in  3.05 seconds = 38.08 MB/sec

Next, I ran the test again with the drive connected to the motherboard rather than the SATABAY425BK.

# hdparm -t /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb: 
 Timing buffered disk reads:   114MB in  3.00 seconds = 37.98 MB/sec

Not much of a difference at all, just as we saw in Windows. As a final test, we'll be performing the same transfer benchmark as we did with Windows: copying a 750MB drive from a Raptor to the hard drive within the unit.

As expected, there's little difference between the connections. The SATABAY425BK hasn't cost any performance to the host system.