HD Tach is a physical performance hard drive test which utilizes aspecial kernel mode VXD in order to get maximum accuracy by bypassingthe file system. A similar mechanism is used in Windows NT/2000.
The HD Tach sequential read test is a little bit different from otherbenchmarks. Most benchmarks create a file on the hard drive and testwithin that file.
The problem is that modern hard drives use a zone bit recordingtechnique that allows different read speeds depending on where the datais located. Data on the outside of the drive is much faster than data recorded on the inside.
HD Tach reads from areas all over the hard drive and reports an averagespeed. It also logs the read speeds to a text file that you can loadinto a spreadsheet and graph to visually read the results of the test.
In addition to sequential read, HD Tach tests the drive s random accesstime. Random access is the true measure of seek speed. Many drivesadvertise sub 10 millisecond seek speeds, but seek speeds aremisleading.
Finally, HD Tach tests the drive burst speed. The burst speed is thespeed that data can be accessed from the drive s on-board read-aheadmemory. This measures the speed of the drive and controller interface.
The non-commercial version of HD Tach gives you access to all thefunctionality, ease of use and reliable benchmarking you expect from HDTach. In addtion, we have added the ability to save benchmark resultsand graph your saved benchmark results against previous results orresults from the new, included, drive database.
We have created this database from benchmark results sent in by ourusers through the new Upload feature of HD Tach - after running thetest you are given the option to send your drive benchmarks in toSimpli Software for inclusion in our database.
Limitations:
The non-commercial version of the software may also be used for up to14 days by commercial users as an evaluation, as stated in the licenseagreement.
What s New in This Release:
Support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP only. We will evaluate the need for Windows 9X/ME support on an ongoing basis.
Built in drive database so you can compare benchmarked drives and save your benchmarks into the database.
Internet support to download benchmark library updates from our web site.
Upload button to upload your benchmark results to our web site. Weencourage you to use the Upload button as the database will beprimarily user supported. We would like to get 3-4 benchmarks for eachdrive before we submit it to our database for a reality check.
Zoom/pan feature on graphs. Draw a box using the left mouse buttonfrom left to right to zoom, from right to left to unzoom. Right clickand drag to pan the graph.
Support for quick and long reads.
We believe all benchmarks to be more accurate. CPU benchmark now usesthe internal counter in Windows for CPU utilization and s
