Passmark Advanced Multi-User Tests

Version and / or Patch Used: 6.1
Developer Homepage: http://www. passmark.com
Test Homepage: http://www.passmark.com

Many users complain that I/O Meter is too complicated of a benchmark to replicate results so my quest to find an alternative was started. Passmark has added several multi-user tests that measure a hard drives ability to operate in a multi-user environment.

The tests use different settings to mimic basic multi-user operations as they would play out on your server. Variances is read / write percentage as well as random / sequential reads are common in certain applications, Web Servers read nearly 100% of the time while Database Servers write a small amount of data.

The Workstation test is the only single user environment and will be similar to how you use your system at home.

The server tests belong to the SandForce drives and they are even faster than the purpose built Intel X25-E enterprise products. Here we see no difference in performance between the standard and extended drives, but in an enterprise environment when drives are expected to run 24/7 for many years the extra spare area would be recommended for extended reliability.