MyDigitalSSD 128GB mSATA SuperCache 2 Caching SSD Review

ATTO DISK BENCHMARK VER 2.46

ATTO Disk Benchmark has been around as long or longer than most any other storage performance benchmark.  ATTO uses RAW (or compressible) data, and for today’s benchmarking tests we will use a set length of 256MB.  We will be testing both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5KB to 8192KB.  This is the testing method preferred by most manufacturers, as it tests with RAW (compressible) data, rather than random (including incompressible) data.  Although random and incompressible data may be a more realistic usage scenario, testing with it will give lower performance results.

At transfer sizes of 256KB and larger, the MyDigitalSSD SuperCache 2 begins to hit its performance peaks.  The read speeds plateau at 544-545 MB/s.  The write speeds peak in the 331-334 MB/s range.  The write speeds are unimpressive, but the read speeds are certainly competitive.

CRYSTAL DISK BENCHMARK VER 3.0X64

Crystal Disk Benchmark is used to test read and write performance through sampling of raw (0/1 fill / compressible) data, or random data that is mostly incompressible.  The left screenshot displays the compressible (0 fill) results, and the right screenshot displays incompressible (random data) results.

As we saw with ATTO, the read speeds are competitive, but the write speeds are rather lackluster.  With the incompressible tests, the write speeds fall off significantly.

AS SSD BENCHMARK VER 1.7

AS SSD was until recently the only benchmark created specifically for SSD testing, and it used incompressible data.  For the most part, AS SSD shows us “worst case scenario” SSD transfer speeds because of its use of incompressible data.  Enthusiasts often prefer AS SSD for this reason, as they seek to see minimum performance as well as maximum performance.  Transfer speeds in MB/s are shown in the left screenshot, IOPS in the right screenshot.

With AS SSD being the “worst case scenario” performance, we see even the sequential write speeds drop well below 100 MB/s.  In the copybench test, program and game files came in at nearly double the copy time of ISO files.

ANVIL STORAGE UTILITIES PROFESSIONAL

Anvil Storage Utilities is an absolutely amazing SSD benchmarking utility.  Not only does it have a pre-set SSD benchmark, but also includes such things as endurance testing and threaded I/O read/write/mixed tests, all of which are very simple to understand and utilize for benchmark testing.

Anvil provides some great information about system and SSD identification.  Echoing our other benchmarks, Anvil shows weaker-than-average write speeds and IOPS, and a correspondingly mediocre total score.

PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD SUITE

The SSD Review uses benchmark software called PCMark Vantage x64 HDD Suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. There are eight tests in all and the tests performed record the speed of data movement in MB/s to which they are then given a numerical score after all of the tests are complete. The simulations are as follows:

• Windows Defender In Use
• Streaming Data from storage in games such as Alan Wake which allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action
• Importing digital photos into Windows Photo Gallery
• Starting the Vista Operating System
• Home Video editing with Movie Maker which can be very time consuming
• Media Center which can handle video recording, time shifting and streaming from Windows media center to an extender such as XBox
• Cataloging a music library
• Starting application

With a score of 44238, the MyDigitalSSD SuperCache 2 mSATA SSD lags a little behind other current 128GB mSATA SSDs.