Hi,
I'm reviewing stats for some execution times (which imply data transfer rates) of some utilities I'd run previously on laptops and, from that, see what I can only attribute to lousy disk subsystem performance.
Granted, laptop drives tend to be less performant simply because of power and space considerations (and, the Windows disk access patterns). And, of course, laptops are all over the map in terms of price/performance.
But, what sort of unbuffered,[1] single sector performance are you likely to encounter in that environment? E.g., a desktop disk can easily saturate a 100Mb link -- or a USB2 PCI i/f. I'm not sure that is true with many (?) laptop drives...
I realize the 2.5" form factor (nor the PATA/SATA distinction) should arbitrarily limit performance (though low RPMs can). E.g., I have some 2.5" drives that will do 300MB/s easily (though run very warm and draw twice the power of "typical" drives)
Thx,
--don
[1] Of course, all disk accesses are buffered -- in several places. My point is "without taking explicit and extraordinary measures"...