ICY TIP: What is the true performance inside your external hard drive?

Today, the performance in our computers is becoming much faster and more important, especially when we access data off our hard drives often. There has been much advancement in recent years in technology with regards to the processor, now with Intel producing their i7 processors. However, we haven't seen similar type of improvement as with hard drives. It is fair to say though that it is the slowest component of the computer. Because of the high pricing and low capacity of the SSD, the hard drives that we use now as storage is still a very viable option.At this point, knowing what type of hard drive you are getting with the external hard drive is important. The question is now, how does the performance fair when data needs to be accessed and transferred? How can you get the performance needed when using an external hard drive where you have no control of which hard drive to use? Fortunately, there is an option that is readily available to everyone. You can take an internal hard drive of your choosing and then couple that with an external enclosure.



So we're going to take a look at what kinds of drives are available in the market, and compare how much the performance difference will be when you have the option of choosing the hard drive for your external hard drive. For this comparison, we are going to be using the popular Western Digital My Book Essential. According to our research, the internal hard drive model for this unit is WD Caviar Green 1TB (WD10EARS)**. We have also provided performance charts for average read and write capabilities to compare against other internal hard drives. The tests are conducted with the internal drives of each model, so the interface used will be the same.

We noticed that there are many drives that can be selected from, all of which have better performance. According to the performance chart from tomshardware, we compiled all the drives that provide better read and write speeds.



With so many drives to choose from, the use of the My Book Essential will not be able to give the same performance as compared with the other hard drives.



So, when looking for an enclosure to pair with the hard drive, you would want something that is well built and has world class support. To help sustain the performance of your drives, our Icy Dock external enclosures fulfill that need. The use of aluminum materials, excellent design, and a 3 year standard warranty will provide much better heat dissipation and insure that your unit will be in good hands. One particular model available is the Icy Dock MB559US-1S, which offers the user a hot swap external enclosure with USB and eSATA interfaces.



You can select the hard drive of your choice and then choose the enclosure that will meet your needs, maximize performance, and increase the longevity of your external hard drive!


Some other notable units to check out:



Single Bays:



MB559US-1S Icy Dock external single bay with tray system, USB & eSATA:

www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=55



MB664US-1S Icy Dock external single bay enclosure with screw less design, USB & eSATA:

www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=59



Multi Bays:



MB662US-1S Icy Dock external dual bay RAID, USB & eSATA:

www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=71



MB662USEB-2S Dual Bay FireWire 400/800 eSATA & USB RAID:

www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=120



MB561US-4S-1 Quad Bay enclosure with USB and eSATA Port Multiplier:

www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=33



Hard drives that faster than WD10EARS (Read / Write speed):



Read Avg Speed


Write Avg Speed

Western Digital VelociRaptor VR200M

WD6000HLHX, 600 GB, 10000rpm, 32 MB Cache


Western Digital VelociRaptor VR200M

WD6000HLHX, 600 GB, 10000rpm, 32

Samsung Spinpoint F4

HD322GJ, 320 GB, 7200rpm, 16 MB Cache


Samsung Spinpoint F4

HD322GJ, 320 GB, 7200rpm, 16 MB

Samsung Spinpoint F3

HD103SJ, 1000 GB, 7200rpm, 32 MB Cache


Samsung Spinpoint F3

HD103SJ, 1000 GB, 7200rpm, 32 MB Cache

Samsung Spinpoint F3

HD502HJ,500 GB,7200rpm,16 MB Cache


Samsung Spinpoint F3

HD502HJ,500 GB,7200rpm,16 MB Cache

Western Digital WD RE4

WD2003FYYS,2000 GB,7200rpm,64 MB Cache


Western Digital WD RE4

WD2003FYYS,2000 GB,7200rpm,64 MB Cache

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C

HDS721010CLA332, 1000 GB, 7200rpm, 32 MB Cache


Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C

HDS721010CLA332, 1000 GB, 7200rpm, 32 MB Cache

Seagate Constellation ES

ST32000644NS, 2000 GB, 7200rpm, 64 MB Cache


Western Digital WD Caviar Black

WD2001FASS,2000 GB,7200rpm,64 MB Cache

Western Digital WD Caviar Black

WD2001FASS,2000 GB,7200rpm,64 MB Cache


Seagate Constellation ES

ST32000644NS, 2000 GB, 7200rpm, 64 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda XT

ST32000641AS, 2000 GB, 7200rpm, 32 MB Cache


Western Digital VelociRaptor VR150

WD3000GLFS,SATA/300,300 GB,16 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

ST3500418AS,500 GB,16 MB Cache


Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

ST3500418AS,500 GB,16 MB Cache

Western Digital VelociRaptor VR150

WD3000GLFS,SATA/300,300 GB,16 MB Cache


Seagate Barracuda XT

ST32000641AS, 2000 GB, 7200rpm, 32 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

ST31000528AS,1000 GB,32 MB Cache


Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

ST31000528AS,1000 GB,32 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

ST3750528AS,750 GB,32 MB Cache


Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000

HDS722020ALA330, 2000 GB, 7200rpm, 64 MB Cache

Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000

HDS722020ALA330, 2000 GB, 7200rpm, 64 MB Cache


Seagate Barracuda 7200.12

ST3750528AS,750 GB,32 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11

ST31500341AS,SATA/300,1500 GB,32 MB Cache




Seagate Barracuda 7200.11

ST31500341AS,SATA/300,1500 GB,32 MB Cache

Hitachi Deskstar E7K1000

HDE721010SLA330,1000 GB,7200rpm,32 MB Cache


Hitachi Deskstar E7K1000

HDE721010SLA330,1000 GB,7200rpm,32 MB Cache

Samsung SpinPoint F1

HD103UJ,SATA/300,1000 GB,32 MB Cache


Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B

HDT721010SLA360,SATA/300,1000 GB,16 MB Cache

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B

HDT721010SLA360,SATA/300,1000 GB,16 MB Cache


Samsung SpinPoint F1

HD103UJ,SATA/300,1000 GB,32 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda LP

ST32000542AS,2000 GB,5900rpm,32 MB Cache


Seagate Barracuda LP

ST31000520AS,1000 GB,5900rpm,32 MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda LP

ST31000520AS,1000 GB,5900rpm,32 MB Cache


Seagate Barracuda LP

ST32000542AS,2000 GB,5900rpm,32 MB Cache

Western Digital WD Caviar Green

WD15EADS,SATA/300,1500 GB,32 MB Cache


Western Digital WD Caviar Green

WD15EADS,SATA/300,1500 GB,32 MB Cache

Samsung EcoGreen F2

HD502HI,500 GB,16 MB Cache


Samsung EcoGreen F2

HD502HI,500 GB,16 MB Cache

Western Digital Caviar Black

WD1001FALS,SATA/300,1000 GB,32 MB Cache


Western Digital Caviar Black

WD1001FALS,SATA/300,1000 GB,32 MB Cache

Samsung EcoGreen F2

HD103SI,1000 GB,5400rpm,32 MB Cache


Samsung EcoGreen F2

HD103SI,1000 GB,5400rpm,32 MB Cache

Western Digital WD RE4-GP

WD2002FYPS,2000 GB, 5400rpm,64 MB Cache


Western Digital WD RE4-GP

WD2002FYPS,2000 GB, 5400rpm,64 MB Cache

Samsung EcoGreen F2

HD154UI,SATA/300,1500 GB,32 MB Cache


Samsung EcoGreen F2

HD154UI,SATA/300,1500 GB,32 MB Cache

Western Digital WD Caviar Green

WD10EARS, 1000GB, 5400rpm, 64 MB Cache


Western Digital WD Caviar Green

WD10EARS, 1000GB, 5400rpm, 64 MB Cache