detail information

HDD read tests:

For our hard drive tests we used a Western Digital WD1600JB-00EVA0 160GB drive. To perform the tests we used HD Tach 3.0.1.0. This utility, developed by Simpli Software Inc, can perform various tests on Hard Disk Drives. HD Tach also allows you to save your test data and then later compare it to other hardware or newer test data.

First, we performed a test while the hard drive was installed internally in our PC.

WD 160GB drive internal ATA read test

We can see that the Average read speed is 48.6 MB/s and the Burst speed is 78.8 MB/s when the hard drive is installed internally.

We then removed the hard drive from our PC and installed it in the ADS Tech Dual Link Drive Kit.

We connected the enclosure to our PC via the Firewire interface and reran the HD Tach test.

Below you will see the Firewire interface results output:

WD 160GB drive read test: ADS Dual Link Drive Kit Firewire (IEEE 1394)

We can see that the Average read speed is 29.3 MB/s and the Burst speed is 31.5 MB/s. These achieved speeds are pretty close to the advertised value of 'Supports sustained data transfer rates up to 35 MB/Sec".

For your comparison we have overlapped the internal read test graph with the Firewire read test graph. The internal ATA test values are shown in blue and the Firewire test values are shown in red:

ATA vs. Firewire

As expected, the reading speeds are much faster when the hard drive is connected internally.

Next up we tested the hard drive read speeds from the ADS Dual Link Drive Kit when connected via USB 2.0.

WD 160GB drive read test: ADS Dual Link Drive Kit USB 2.0

The resulting USB 2.0 speeds look very similar to our Firewire test speeds.  The Average read is 29.1 MB/s and the Burst Speed is 31.0 MB/s.

Again for your comparison we have overlapped the internal read test graph with the USB 2.0 read test graph. The internal ATA test values are shown in blue and the USB 2.0 test values are shown in red:

ATA vs. USB 2.0

As expected, the reading speeds are much faster when the hard drive is connected internally.

This concludes our review of the ADS Tech LL5-DLX-185 Dual Link Drive Kit, read the summary and conclusion on the next page…

CD/DVD drive tests

Summary and Conclusion