9. Performance - 128 MB file comparison

To get a better feel for the real, non-cached performance of the Giga, it's more helpful to look at tests for a 128 MByte file size. Figures 17 and 18 show write performance for the Giga, 10/100 LinkStation and all four TeraStation modes with 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps LAN connections respectively.

Figure 17: 128M file Write performance comparison w/100 Mbps LAN
(click image to enlarge)

The comparison with 100 Mbps LAN connection shows comparable write performance except for the TeraStation in RAID 5 mode. (I think the lower results in RAID 1 at 1024 and 2048 record sizes are anomalies.) Figure 18 shows that the Giga's write performance tracks with the pack for a normal gigabit Ethernet connection, but outpaces everthing else when 4K jumbo frames are used.

Figure 18: 128M file Write performance comparison w/1000 Mbps LAN
(click image to enlarge)

Figures 19 and 20 show read performance for 100 and 1000Mbps LAN connections respectively.

Figure 19: 128M file Read performance comparison w/100 Mbps LAN
(click image to enlarge)

With a 100 Mbps LAN connection, all products turn in comparable read performance. But with a gigabit connection, the Giga doesn't distance itself from the pack until jumbo frames are used. And even then, the improvement isn't as significant as it is when writing.

Figure 20: 128M file Read performance comparison w/1000 Mbps LAN
(click image to enlarge)

The upshot of all this is:

In my test setup, the Giga had better read and write cached performance than the 10/100 Linkstation and even the TeraStation when used on a gigabit LAN

The Giga has enough oomph to take advantage of its gigabit Ethernet with jumbo frames enabled and provide superior cached and uncached performance