X220 320GB 7200 RPM Hard drive benchmark -- slow?

I have an i7 X220 with the 320GB 7200 RPM Hitachi drive. From what I've looked up, my Crystal Disk Mark benchmarks should be higher than this (up to 95-100 MB.s on sequential).

This is with a clean install of Windows 7, and I believe I have all of the drivers updated including Intel Rapid Storage.




What do you guys get?

 

You know, I was sort of curious about this, because I was playing a 29.97fps XviD off the hdd and it kept skipping waiting for the HDD. The same file was read flawlessly off my SSD. Thing is the speeds you posted are so fast in comparison with the avg bitrate of the file that it shouldn't make any difference...

 

If you are doing something else with the HDD too and the head needs to jump around, it slows down a lot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but, I believe the benchmark numbers will vary based on where the test file is placed on the disk. My HDD has a whooping 5 partitions on it (I don't really want to delete any Lenovo made partitions), the 2nd one (because the first was already taken) is my Windows partition, which is 50GB. It should be located on the outer part of the platter, and gets higher IO speeds than any of the other partitions, which should be located closer to the center of the platter. So, if the test file was placed near the innermost part of the platter, it will be slower.

 

Yes, read and write speeds will definitely change based on the area of the platter. I'm not sure that is the situation here though, as this is a clean install with only one partition.

This benchmark is with nothing else going on in the OS. Also, I do get a 5.9 for the HD for the WEI.

 

If the hard disk that you're using is bring accessed during your benchmark, it'll compromise your numbers. Generally, it's less-than-ideal to benchmark a hard disk that's being used as a boot drive that's peobably being accessed during you disk benchmark.

 

Seagate 320GB (7mm) benchmark from T420s (with 10+ programs running in the background):

 

Thanks somebodyelse, even though they're different drives (Hitachi vs Seagate), the numbers should probably be similar to that.

Looking around elsewhere for #s on this drive they seem to be around there too.

 

I have the Hitachi 7200 and I'm using the stock Lenovo install right now.



Mine's even slower than yours. Wish my SSD worked. >.<

 

Thank you dbrowdy. Hmm, maybe this 7200 RPM Hitachi isn't all that great? It's supposed to be a single platter drive too.

 

Just tested my new Western Digital myPassport 500GB USB3.0 ... it's a 5400RPM drive and its CrystalDiskMark numbers are pretty comparable.

 

This wouldn't much matter to me if my mSATA drive were working. But seeing as how it's not working AND my 7200 RPM HDD is under-performing... it's kinda disappointing.

 

Hmm, but the situation here is a single 298GB partition, with no OS files on it (using SSD for OS). I certainly wasn't doing anything else with the HDD. I'll see if I can replicate the issue.

 

CPU throttling does affect hard disk performance greatly. try benchmarking while on battery.

 

Look at the same hard drive in the NBR review of the X220: Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Performance and Benchmarks



Very significant differences in the sequential read/write.

 

One difference between the NBR system and mine is I have the i7 instead of the i5. Could that be a factor? (not intuitively of course)

 

it's possible because i7 have cpu throttling issues. try running the test on battery (cos weirdly, the issues is gone when running on battery).

 

No change on the battery.

So, I am trying some stuff out and restored the original Lenovo factory install. I then re-ran CrystalMark, and low and behold - the performance is higher!

97 MB/s on both sequential read and write.