Third Generation: Iomega ZIP-750 MB

Installation Issues: Write Performance

If you want to glean optimal write performance from your drive, activate the "Write Cache" checkbox on the "Guidelines" tab under "Drive Properties" in the device manager.

As the following data-transfer diagrams show, it is well worth it to activate this feature.

Data-Transfer Diagram

When write cache is deactivated, the transfer rate hovers at around 1400 kB/s.

Examining the curve, you can see that the disk is read (and written) from the outer to the inner edge. Since the medium spins at a constant speed, a steadily declining data-transfer rate results. The jump in transfer rate at the 325 MB mark can be attributed to the fact that both sides of the medium are read/ written in turn from the outside in.

If the write cache is activated, the write rate of the drive averages out at almost 4000 kB/s. The read transfer rate averages at just shy of 5000 kB/s.

The maximum transfer rate of 50x or 7.3 MBytes/s promised by the manufacturer could not be achieved using this synthetic benchmark.

The maximum write transfer rate we got was 5059 kB/s (= 4.9 MB/s). The burst rate for reading was 6356 kB/s (= 6.2 MB/s).