Benchmark Results: File Copy Time
The file copy tests are initiated and timed via the OS command line interface (CLI). In order to get a realistic measurement, a reboot is necessary between each iteration. The test files include the ISO image of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and a folder containing 275 high-def wallpapers.
HDD to HDD
The HDD to HDD test is run five times.
Ubuntu and its default ext4 filesystem manage to copy the test files from one location on the hard disk to another three seconds faster than Window 7 and the NTFS filesystem.
HDD to USB
An 8 GB Kingston DataTraveler 100 G2 USB thumb drive was used in a USB 2.0 port on the front panel of our test system for the USB tests. The thumb drive is formatted with the FAT32 filesystem. Due to close scores between iterations and the long duration of this test, we only need to run two iterations for the HDD to USB times.
When copying from the hard drive to an USB thumb drive, Windows takes the lead by over a minute.
USB to HDD
USB to HDD is performed three times.
The results of USB to HDD file copy operations are a draw between Ubuntu and Windows, with Ubuntu 11.10 technically holding an insignificant 300 millisecond lead.
The most significant benchmark on this page is the hard drive to hard drive test, since this action happens constantly during real-world use. The lead goes to Ubuntu.