Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex: Modular External Storage

Test Setup And Interface Performance

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System Hardware
HardwareDetails
CPUIntel Core i7-920 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache)
MotherboardSupermicro X8SAX (LGA 1366), Revision: 1.0, Chipset Intel X58 + ICH10R, BIOS: 1.0B
RAM3 x 1 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX
HDDSeagate NL35 400 GB, ST3400832NS, 7200 RPM, SATA 1.5Gb/s, 8 MB Cache
Storage ControllerseSATA: on-board eSATA (ICH10R) USB 2.0: on-board USB 2.0 (ICH10R) USB 3.0: NEC D720200F1 (Gigabyte GA-USB3.0)
Power SupplyOCZ EliteXstream 800 W, OCZ800EXS-EU
Benchmarks
Performance Measurementsh2benchw 3.13
I/O PerformanceIOMeter 2008.08.18Fileserver BenchmarkWebserver BenchmarkDatabase BenchmarkWorkstation BenchmarkStreaming Reads and Writes
System Software & Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate

We compared the GoFlex family and its various interfaces to some of the latest USB 3.0 storage devices.

Interface Performance

This chart shows the maximum throughput of the individual GoFlex interface choices. The USB 2.0 connections are limited to roughly 39 MB/s, which still is a modest result. FireWire 800 will take you to about 76 MB/s, and eSATA or USB 3.0 will unleash the full 2.5” hard drive bandwidth of 110 to 113 MB/s on the Ultra-portable models.

The desktop version could transfer 195 MB/s if the hard drives were fast enough. Keep in mind that this benchmark shows maximum interface throughput, not the throughput off or onto the physical drive.