Drives involved in this test were as follows:

(Referred to as IBM) - IBM DTLA-307020 - 20GB, ATA/100, 7200 RPM, 2MB cache (main test drive), ran on first 2GB partition

(Referred to as LCT) - Quantum lct15 - 30GB, ATA/66, 4400RPM, 512Kb cache, formatted as 28GB

(Referred to as FBP) - Quantum Fireball Plus LM - 30GB, ATA/66, 7200 RPM, 512Kb cache (stock G4 drive) (3 partitions)

(Referred to as VIK) - Quantum Viking - 4.5GB narrow Ultra SCSI, 7200 RPM, 512Kb cache (my boot drive)

(Referred to as MAX) - Maxtor - 6.4GB, ATA/33, 5200 RPM, 256Kb cache (for variety)


The IBM, Maxtor and Quantum LCT15 drives were always connected to the various SCSI interfaces via the Acard ARS-2000FW, which I reviewed on 1/13/01.

The SCSI interfaces referenced in this test include: the stock external (25 pin) SCSI on my PowerCurve (5MB/sec),
the internal narrow connector on an FWB Ultra PCI JackHammer (20MB/sec), the external wide connector on the JackHammer (40MB/sec),
the internal narrow connector on the AEC-6712WM (20MB/sec), and the external wide connector on the AEC-6712WM (40MB/sec.)
The only non-SCSI interface used, was purely for comparison, and that was the stock ATA/66 drive in the G4.

All read and write measurements are in Megabytes per second, rankings were determined by total throughput - Read + Write


For the bean-counter in You!
Atto ExpressPro-Tools 2.5 Benchmarks

32Kb w/cache Transfer Size Tests
512Kb w/cache Transfer Size Tests
2MB w/cache Transfer Size Tests
8MB w/cache Transfer Size Tests
32Kb wo/cache Transfer Size Tests
512Kb wo/cache Transfer Size Tests
2MB wo/cache Transfer Size Tests
8MB wo/cache Transfer Size Tests

32Kb Max Transfer Size With System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/66111.62110.13
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide100.16113.70
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide60.9373.57
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow61.5870.91
LCTPowerCurveStock 5MB63.5968.54
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide60.9765.12
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide52.7762.75
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide48.9263.23
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide51.7954.79

Benchmark Menu

512Kb Max Transfer Size With System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6653.1647.68
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide34.5034.40
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide35.5525.80
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide34.1313.34
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide14.9220.03
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide14.8912.63
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow8.709.03
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide7.949.78
LCTPowerCurveStock 5MB2.692.81

Benchmark Menu

2MB Max Transfer Size With System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6639.0826.33
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide32.8734.77
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide34.7227.23
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide33.0913.51
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide17.6618.86
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide17.8113.34
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide10.4311.24
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow9.9910.10
VIKPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Narrow9.9810.02

Benchmark Menu

8MB Max Transfer Size With System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide34.2531.79
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide36.0427.69
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6626.1526.18
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide32.9713.61
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide18.8318.87
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide18.8713.50
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide11.4510.99
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow10.2910.30

Benchmark Menu

32Kb Max Transfer Size Without System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6629.0425.50
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide34.3613.29
IBMG4/450AEC-6712WM Wide22.3919.76
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide20.5612.10
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide17.268.72
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide22.918.98
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide16.548.54
LCTG4/450FWB Wide15.658.74
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow10.565.05
LCTPowerCurveStock 5MB2.532.30

Benchmark Menu

512Kb Max Transfer Size Without System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6653.1447.73
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide34.4834.31
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide35.2826.02
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide34.0213.45
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide14.4721.01
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide14.5512.67
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow8.889.53
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide7.879.86
LCTPowerCurveStock 5MB2.682.811

Benchmark Menu

2MB Max Transfer Size Without System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6639.0527.86
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide32.8334.07
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide34.6027.37
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide33.0813.53
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide17.6918.85
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide17.8013.29
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide10.4611.14
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow9.9710.17
VIKPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Narrow9.9910.05

Benchmark Menu

8MB Max Transfer Size Without System Cache
DriveTest ComputerControllerReadWrite
IBMG4/450MPAEC-6712WM Wide32.6331.91
IBMPowerCurveFWB Wide36.0327.72
FBPG4/450MPG4 ATA/6626.1226.17
IBMPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide33.0713.61
LCTPowerCurveFWB Wide18.8818.89
LCTPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide18.8013.52
MAXPowerCurveAEC-6712WM Wide11.4510.95
VIKPowerCurveFWB Narrow10.2610.25

Benchmark Menu

Thanks to Sam Bushell for his most excellent Progressify app, used on most images on this entire site along with;
Thorsten Lemke's Graphic Converter, Adobe Photoshop and AppleScript!!

And special thanks to Tim Ray of Computer Bay in Mankato for the loaner IBM hard drive!

Email me at: sldghamr@mnic.net