XFERRATE v1.1 - measure disk transfer rate ------------------------------------------ XFERRATE version 1.1 is Freeware by Roger Burrows, Anodyne Software. It is hereby placed in the public domain, and may be freely copied and distributed. Please keep the program executable and this documentation together - thanks. Description ----------- XFERRATE is a program that measures the sustained data transfer rate of your hard disk drive(s), using the standard low-level software interface(s) to your hard disk driver. This means that it measures a combination of raw drive speed, interface speed, and disk driver performance. The data transfer rate is measured by performing reads of multiple adjacent data sectors (192 kilobytes per transfer), and is reported in kilobytes per second (kb/sec). NOTE: 1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes for this measurement. XFERRATE v1.1 uses the traditional bios interface (Rwabs()/Getbpb()), as well as the newer XHDI interface (if available), and reports transfer rates for each separately. To detect variations across a partition, the rate is measured at both the start and the end of the partition; if the measurements differ by more than 10 kb/sec, a range is reported (the first number applies to the beginning of the partition, the second to the end). Otherwise, an average is reported. Rates are always rounded to the nearest 10kb/sec. Data transfer rate is measurable on any drive from C to Z (inclusive) that can be accessed by either the standard bios calls Getbpb()/Rwabs() or the XHDI interface. NOTE: older hard disk drivers such as AHDI or the ICD software do not support the XHDI interface. XFERRATE and CD Recorders ------------------------- XFERRATE was written to provide additional information for users of Anodyne Software's CD Recording package, CD Writer Plus. Knowing the data transfer rate of your hard drive will enable you to _estimate_ the maximum rate at which you can successfully record from a given partition, using the following tables: Data transfer rate Maximum recording rate ------------------ ---------------------- Less than 170 kb/sec Probably not possible 170 - 250 kb/sec 1X, marginal 250 - 360 kb/sec 1X 360 - 450 kb/sec 2X, marginal 450 - 900 kb/sec 2X 900 - 1200 kb/sec 4X, marginal 1200 - 2990 kb/sec 4X 3000 - 4000 kb/sec 6X, marginal More than 4000 kb/sec 6X NOTES: 1. These are guidelines only; since other factors can affect the success of a CD recording, the only sure way to determine the maximum recording rate is by use of the "Simulate" feature within CD Writer Plus. 2. At a given speed, more data must be transferred for audio recording than for data recording. Therefore, for recording rates listed as marginal in the table above, data recording may be successful where audio recording is not. 3. When writing audio CDs, certain types of audio files require less processing than others (the Info button on the CD Writer Preferences screen will show this for your recorder). Therefore, particularly on slower CPUs, these types of files may be successfully written where others are not. How to use XFERRATE ------------------ Double-click on XFERRATE.TTP. When the dialog box is displayed, just press enter. You will be prompted for the drive letter(s) (i.e. disk partition(s)) to measure. After entering the drive letter(s), the data transfer rate test will be run in turn for each partition and the results displayed; note that each test will take approximately ten seconds. When all tests are complete, XFERRATE will wait for you to press enter before returning to the desktop. If you are running from a command-line shell such as Gulam, you may enter the drive letter(s) as an argument to XFERRATE; in this case, there will be no prompt, and no pause at the end of processing. As a convenience, you may enter an asterisk as the drive letter to request tests of all online disks. Sample results -------------- The following results were obtained for selected systems. Values were obtained using XFERRATE v1.0, so are for the Rwabs() interface only. Preliminary testing suggests that data transfer rates via the XHDI interface should be the same (within normal margins of error). Hard disk Data transfer System Drive Interface driver rate (kb/sec) ------ ----- --------- --------- ------------- 1040ST Seagate ST157N ACSI/ICD AdSCSI+ ICDBOOT (note1) 570 1040ST Seagate ST3610N ACSI/ICD AdSCSI+ HDDRIVER 7.55 1200 1040ST Seagate ST3610N ACSI/ICD AdSCSI+ ICDBOOT (note1) 1235 1040ST Seagate ST3610N ACSI/ICD Link HDDRIVER 7.55 1200 1040ST Seagate ST3610N ACSI/WB Link97 AHDI 5.0 1100 1040ST Seagate ST3610N ACSI/WB Link97 HDDRIVER 7.55 1200 1040ST IBM Ultrastar 2.16GB ACSI/WB Link97 HDDRIVER 7.55 1240 Falcon030 CSC 128MB 2.5" IDE HDDRIVER 7.55 60-940 (note2) Falcon030 IBM 344MB 2.5" IDE HDDRIVER 6.0 570-880 (note2) Falcon030 IBM Travelstar 3.2GB IDE HDDRIVER 7.61 1650 Falcon030 IBM Ultrastar 2.16GB SCSI HDDRIVER 7.55 1525 Falcon030 Iomega JAZ 1GB SCSI HDDRIVER 6.0 1520 Falcon030 Seagate ST3610N SCSI HDDRIVER 7.55 1510 TT030 Maxtor LXT-200S SCSI AHDI 5.0 750-950 (note2) TT030 Fujitsu M2624S SCSI HDDRIVER 7.55 1300-1780 (note3) TT030 IBM Ultrastar 2.16GB ACSI/WB Link97 HDDRIVER 7.55 1240 TT030 IBM Ultrastar 2.16GB SCSI HDDRIVER 7.55 1730 TT030 Seagate ST3610N SCSI HDDRIVER 7.55 1610 TT030 Seagate ST3610N ACSI/ICD Link HDDRIVER 7.55 1260 TT030 Seagate ST3610N ACSI/WB Link97 HDDRIVER 7.55 1220 Falcon030/ CenTurbo2B IBM DTTA-351010 IDE HDDRIVER 7.71 4580-4600 (note4) Hades060 Syquest 105R SCSI HDDRIVER v7.63 1390-1420 Hades060 Quantum Maverick 540S SCSI HDDRIVER v7.63 1250-2570 (note2) Hades060 Quantum Fireball 2.1GB IDE HDDRIVER v7.63 5070-5270 (note4) Notes: (1) versions 5.2.0 & 6.0.4 tested (2) varies by partition, i.e. distance from disk spindle (3) in this case, the variation in effective data transfer rates was due to read retries slowing down transfers in some parts of the disk (4) this is not a misprint :-) We welcome any additional results that you may care to send us, especially if you have attained higher transfer rates, and we'll publish them on our web page if there is sufficient interest. Please email your results to: anodyne@cyberus.ca. Be sure to include all of the information, as shown above. Some tentative conclusions from the above results ------------------------------------------------- 1. We can estimate the maximum data transfer rates of the various interfaces, as follows: Interface Max data xfer rate (kb/sec) --------- --------------------------- ACSI 1300 IDE 1700 (standard Falcon) to 5200+ (Hades060) SCSI 1600 (Falcon) to 2600 (Hades060) 2. The ICD AdSCSI+ and Link have the same performance; the Link97 is 0-3% slower, possibly due to the additional overhead of managing SCSI arbitration. 3. Both the ICD driver and HDDRIVER are significantly (about 10%) faster than AHDI. About CD Writer Suite and ExtenDOS Gold --------------------------------------- CD Writer Suite, in conjunction with ExtenDOS Gold, allows you to create audio and data CDs on your Atari, using a standard CD recorder (CD-R or CD-RW). ExtenDOS Gold is an extension to Atari operating systems, including TOS, MultiTOS, MagiC, and Geneva. It supports a wide range of CD recorders and CD-ROM drives on all Atari TOS-based systems, including the ST, STe, TT030, Falcon030, and compatibles. ExtenDOS Gold and CD Writer Suite are available from your Atari dealer, or direct from Anodyne Software at the following address: Anodyne Software 6 Cobbler Court Ottawa Ontario K1V 0B8 CANADA. If you have Internet access, visit our web site at: http://www.cyberus.ca/~anodyne or contact us by email at: anodyne@cyberus.ca Roger Burrows 4/April/2001