Single Client Access - NAS Benchmarks

Evaluation of single client performance in a networked environment was done by configuring three drives in RAID-5 in the QNAP TS-EC1279U-SAS-RP unit. Two of the network links were bonded (configured with 802.3ad LACP). Our usual Intel NASPT / robocopy benchmarks were processed from a virtual machine in our NAS testbed. The results are presented in the graphs below.

HD Video Playback

2x HD Playback

4x HD Playback

HD Video Record

HD Playback and Record

Content Creation

Office Productivity

File Copy to NAS

File Copy from NAS

Dir Copy to NAS

Dir Copy from NAS

Photo Album

robocopy (Write to NAS)

robocopy (Read from NAS)

For almost all workloads, there is no discernible difference between the performance of various drives, indicating that it is the network acting as a bottleneck for single client access. Even when there are differences, it shows that certain drives are better suited for a particular type of workload compared to others. Differences start to appear when there are multiple clients accessing the NAS.

Single Client Access - DAS Benchmarks Multi-Client Access - NAS Environment
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  • MHz Tweaker - Wednesday, September 9, 2015 - link

    My findings are that Backblaze statistics are RIGHT on target. In fact they may be too kind to Seagate. I threw 12 Seagate drives in the trash this spring that were 1.5, 2 and 3TB capacities with 3tb drives being the worst drives I have ever come in contact with. I would say that my 3TB Seagate drive failures are higher than 75% in 24 months. I own a service and repair company and observe Seagate drives fail in droves, particularly the 3TB ones. Seagate 4tb drives are vastly more reliable so far but I stopped buying Seagate drives PERIOD because of the thousands of dollars I lost dealing with them. My primary drive is HGST now. I have a couple dozen of their 4, 5 and 6TB NAS drives in a pair of Win 2012R2 servers and a X99 Workstation. I also use them in client servers and workstations for backup images. In 3 years I have yet to have a HGST drive fail or even receive a D.O.A. Great drives.
  • Wwhat - Monday, September 7, 2015 - link

    Formerly know as 'deathstar' when still owned by IBM due to consistent early failure, I don't get that they didn't change the name.
    Personally I don't trust 'consumer reviews' blindly, because there is massive cheating with paid fake reviews on the internet, and because each person has its own usage pattern and perhaps a good experience with a brand is based on a use quite dissimilar to mine.
  • melgross - Monday, September 7, 2015 - link

    I only recall IBM having one particular drive that had a problem. Long time ago, and I don't remember the model, but it was a 75GB unit.
  • bigboxes - Monday, September 7, 2015 - link

    I had 6 of those 60GB "Deathstar" drives and each and every one of them eventually failed with the "click of death". I was able to RMA them under warranty and every one failed except for one which is sitting in a box somewhere.
  • bigboxes - Monday, September 7, 2015 - link

    75GXP and 60GXP were the bad models.
  • Samus - Monday, September 7, 2015 - link

    ^ this. The first-generation giant magneto resistant (GMR) heads were not reliable. This hasn't been an issue for a decade. IBM/Hitachi/HGST-Toshiba has changed hands so many times (not owned by WD) that very little IBM technology, if any at all, remains in these new drives.
  • Wwhat - Wednesday, September 9, 2015 - link

    I posted my deahtstar remark as a reply to a comment about the deskstar, and am aware it's not a WD company.
    I have no idea why it did not show up as a reply, probably the poorly codedantiquated comment system to blame?

    And my primary point is that it's odd that the company changed name twice but they kept that name with which people had bad memories, it's simply a weird thing to do.
  • Samus - Thursday, September 10, 2015 - link

    It's a pretty good name. The same reason Ford brought back the Taurus nameplate. Even though it was associated with a crappy product at the end of its run, it still has good history behind it.
  • Kjella - Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - link

    The IBM Deskstar 75GXP series, but it had six models with 15/20/30/45/60/75GB capacity. Personally I had a 45GB drive die to the "click of death".
  • Souka - Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - link

    I think I had a number of these drives....they were the fastest around (or most performance per$$)

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