Test System

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (Supplied by Intel)

Motherboard: MSI X38 Diamond (Supplied by MSI Computer)

Memory: 2x 1GB DDR2-1200 (Supplied by Winchip)

Graphics Card: ASUS HD 3870 TOP (Supplied by ASUS)

Cooling: GIGABYTE 3D Galaxy II (Supplied by GIGABYTE)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

Drivers: Intel INF 8.3.1.1009, ForceWare 163.21

The above setup is what will be used for all hard disk reviews hereon. Hard disks designed primarily for use in notebooks are also tested in the above system. However, some tests which are for determining the effect on battery life simply cannot be run on a desktop. All battery related tests are performed on a Lenovo T61 with WiFi enabled.

HD Tune Pro

Version and / or Patch Used: 3.00

Developer Homepage: http://www.efdsoftware.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.hdtune.com/>

HD Tune is a Hard Disk utility which has the following functions:

- Benchmark: measures the performance

- Info: shows detailed information

- Health: checks the health status by using SMART

- Error Scan: scans the surface for errors

- Temperature display

HD Tune Pro gives us accurate read, write and access time results and for the last couple of years has been gaining popularity amongst reviewers. It is now considered a must have application for storage device testing.

Read and Write Tests

The Western Digital Raptor is the standard for enthusiasts, but as you can see, the MTRON PRO is faster in every aspect other than the burst rate. Once you are outside of the sweet spot on the Raptor the read speed is cut in half, but the MTRON keeps right on going at full speed.

Write performance struck me as a little odd, as I was expecting the MTRON PRO to wipe the floor with the Raptor but they traded benchmarks back and forth.

Access Times

Aside from lower power consumption, SSD technology has given us access times that are almost non-existent. While the Raptor and other standard hard drives need to wait for the platter to spin around to where the data is located, like a record player, SSDs do not have this limitation.

As per our previous SSD test, the MTRON PRO has a read access time of just .1 ms and a write access time of .2 ms.