Networking

For our networking tests we utilize a Promise SmartStor NS4600 NAS unit equipped with two WD Caviar Black 640GB drives in RAID 1 operation. We are using our standard large folder and perform a copy from the NAS and then back to the NAS. The Promise NAS unit is connected to each test platform via a NetGear Gigabit Ethernet switch. We left all settings at their defaults on both the motherboard and Promise NAS unit. Our goal was to maximize the performance of the NAS unit to verify our network throughput capabilities in each operating system.

Networking Performance - Large Folder Copy from NAS

Storage Performance - Firewire - HD to External HD

In our download test, Win7 is blazing fast with a 25% advantage over XP and 34% over Vista, making this result particularly notable since network file copy performance has always been a bit of a laggard on Vista. The results are very close in our upload test with Win7 and Vista basically tied and 16% ahead of XP.

USB / FireWire Performance

Our USB transfer speed tests are conducted with an USB 2.0/FireWire based Lacie external hard drive unit featuring a 1TB 7200rpm Samsung F1 drive. In the SSD to External test, we transfer a 3.82GB folder containing 2735 files of various sizes from our Kingston 80GB SSD to the Lacie drive. In the next two file tests, we use the same 3.82GB folder to transfer from our WD VRaptor 300GB hard drive to the external Lacie drive utilizing the USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394a interface.

Storage Performance - USB - SSD to External HD

Storage Performance - USB - HD to External HD

Storage Performance - Firewire - HD to External HD

Win7 and XP perform similarly in our USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394a tests with both finishing ahead of Vista.

 

General Applications Storage Performance & Power Consumption
Comments Locked

207 Comments

View All Comments

  • Exar3342 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Darwinosx: "Is this the new mac operating system?"

    Apple store employee: "Yes, it is called 'Snow Leopard'".

    Darwinosx: "I like cats...this must be the best around because of the cute kitty on the box. I will buy it!"
  • JimmyJimmington - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Yup, macs have no security vulnerabilities at all. Exactly.
  • StevoLincolnite - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    MacOSX is far from the best Operating system out there, it has a tiny market share, lacks software/API compatibility, and usually comes with rather antiquated hardware, and cheap plastic looks. (Even the Aluminum bodied ones, look cheap and flimsy to me, despite them being of a solid build).

    I usually avoid all Articles based around the Mac because it's completely pointless to read, I have never owned a Mac, I never want to own a Mac, I have used a Mac and hated every moment of it, not because of the "Brand" but because I have to "Search" for OSX variations of the software I use, in such a case the Operating system is useless to me.

    Windows 7 is awesome, been using it since the early Beta's, It's like a "Fine Wine" version of Vista, it's Vista that got better with age. - I don't expect a Mac user to understand the difference's as they are generally limited in intellectual capability.

    ******

    What I REALLY wanted from this article is Windows 7's performance on something like the Atom 230/330 based processors so we can see how usable the Operating system is on such processors.
  • darwinosx - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    I didn't say it was the best now did I? But it is certainly better than this band aided and scotch taped version of Vista. I don't have any particular idea of a "best" OS in mind because I work with all of them. I have for 20+ years and I am quite well paid for it. Whereas you still get an allowance from daddy.

    Market share is no measure of how good something is. That is obvious.

    Software/API compatibility? Meaning what exactly? I'd like to hear because I don't think you know.

    Tell me one thing that is antiquated about Mac hardware? Plastic? What plastic? Your comments on the unibody are laughable. I'll leave it at that.

    Oh you had to "search" for Mac software. That must have been difficult for you.

    I understand you are just some teenager who doesn't know anything. But don't think everyone here is the same as you.
  • B3an - Monday, November 2, 2009 - link

    Another moronic Mac user that knows nothing. All your points about about 7 are a joke. Chances are you have not even used it.
    The only "malware fest" was windows XP. I've used Vista since release with UAC turned off - never got anything.
    And yes 7 uses more RAM, as it's a real OS and not a toy, it supports hundreds of thousands of 3rd party hardware and software, it can do a lot more. This tends to increase the complexity of an OS.

    If OSX was actually good enough for most people to use, it would be a security mess as hackers would actually bother to attack it, and theres noway it's as secure as Vista or 7 if it came down to that.
  • Ahmed0 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Remember kids, dont put your hands through the cage and dont feed the trolls.
  • Lifted - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    You should stock up on the pads as it looks like you're in for some heavy flow this month ma'am.
  • Sc4freak - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    "But what I don’t get is why there’s any reason good enough for Windows to not come with an email client at all. It’s 2009, why is there an operating system being released without an email client?"

    But you see, that would be violating anti-competition laws and would reduce consumer choice. Bundling Windows Live Mail is clearly unfair to Mozilla Thunderbird, Opera Mail, and all the other email client providers out there!

    Obviously, the solution is that Microsoft must implement a ballot screen into Windows so users can choose whether to use Windows Live Mail or another competing product. Yep.
  • darwinosx - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Bundling these apps was only an issue in Europe not in the U.S. It wasn't all of these apps ether. The biggest issue Microsoft regarding bundling is the browser and they still bundle that. So whatever Microsoft reason is for that it had nothing to do with bundling or anti-trust.

    A bigger question is why in an OS released in 2009 do you still need to manually defrag, still need registry cleaners, layers of anti-malware, and various other 3rd party utilities just to make it usable and semi-reliable? Pretty sad.
  • ProDigit - Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - link

    I prefer to do these things manually!
    Automatic defrag in Vista and 7 is one of the major reasons for a degrading OS over time (in speed).
    I prefer keeping control over many of the 'automatic' services,which somehow always seem to interfere with performance..
    Ever played a game,and in the middle noticed a virusscan was happening on the background?
    Or what about just silently reading a webpage, on the last of your battery of a laptop, and noticing how the HDD light flickers like crazy, making this annoying HDD sound while you're reading?

    Those are the curses of the automatic tasks.
    One of the first thing I did with XP and win98, when it got released,was disable the automatic task scheduler!
    Some find automatic tasks a blessing, some a curse.

    A Defrag on a normal system should be done twice or trice a year, not every day like Vista (provided if you stay above the 20% freespace).

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now