| Article Index |
|---|
| LaCie iamaKey Review |
| Features, Specifications and Size |
| Performance: ReadyBoost |
| Performance: Real World Access |
| Problems |
| Conclusion |
| All Pages |
There are four main types of activity that can stress test a storage device:
- Reading small files
- Writing small files
- Reading large files
- Writing large files
Small files test the devices ability to rapidly respond to requests that use all parts of the device. This test will give us numbers that are much lower than the packaging suggests. Large files allow us to see just how good the device is at storing or retrieving data – this is the type of test that generally gives us the numbers posted on the package (remember: 30MB/s read, 10MB/s write), and also ensures that the test numbers are not unduly influenced by smart electronics.
SMALL FILES
These tests use a dataset with the following pathologically nasty configuration:
- 2144 files in 310 folders (some empty folders)
- Minimum file size: 1KB (1024 bytes);
- Maximum file size: 1MB (1048576 bytes);
- Total size of all files: 130 MB (137,290,892 bytes)
Read Test
The test copies these from the USB key to the local disk drive five times in rapid succession. The results are reasonable – the iamaKey managed a respectable 1707 KB/s on average, and took 78 seconds to read the 130MB of data. Not bad.
Write Test
The test copies these from the local disk drive to the USB key five times in rapid succession. The results are unsurprising (and hardly inspiring) – the iamaKey managed just 363 KB/s on average, taking over 6 minutes to copy the data.
LARGE FILES
These tests use a dataset with the following configuration:
- 27 files in 16 folders (some empty folders);
- Minimum file size: 10.2 MB (10,754,377 bytes);
- Maximum file size: 89.1 MB (93,471,744 bytes);
- Total size of all files: 747 MB (783,609,012 bytes)
Read Test
The test copies these from the USB key to the local disk drive five times in rapid succession. The results are excellent – the iamaKey managed 13,917 KB/s on average and took less than a minute to read the data.
Write Test
The test copies these from the local disk drive to the USB key five times in rapid succession. The results are pretty good for a “normal” USB key – the iamaKey managed 4,387 KB/s on average, taking just under 3 minutes to save the data.
STRESS TEST
The stress test takes the test data we’ve already put on the key (one copy of the small fileset and one of the large fileset) and then reads and writes it to the key at the same time. We repeat the test five times, just to ensure that we work the device as hard as we can.
The iamaKey managed 1306 KB/s, on average, taking 11 minutes and 30 seconds per copy. Not shabby at all for this stress test.
