Performance Testing

HDTach Read Bandwidth

For this benchmark, HDTach was used. It shows the potential read speed that you are likely to experience with these enclosures.



Wow, just WOW. In USB mode the Eagle Consus-M is quite simply the fastest USB enclosure we have every tested; and that’s just half the story! When this unit is connected via eSATA, the numbers are simple astonishing. These numbers are for all intents and purposes the same numbers that they would be if the hard drive was internally mounted to the Gigabyte motherboard. Words like “impressive” just don’t convey the sheer joy at seeing how fast this enclosure gobbles up multi-gig files. This is what any tech geek worth his salt has been waiting for.


HDTach Random Access Time

Once again, HDTach was used for this benchmark. This benchmark tests how quickly different areas of the drive’s memory can be accessed. A low number means that the drive space can be accessed quickly while a high number means that more time is taken trying to access different parts of the drive.



Once again the Consus M posts some downright amazing numbers. This hard drive has a Random Access latency of 13.2ms which means that the Consus M’s latency overhead is so small as to be negligible. That Sunplus controller chip really is an amazing piece of engineering.


ATTO Disk Benchmark

The ATTO disk benchmark tests the drives read and write speeds using gradually larger size files. For these tests, the ATTO program was set to run from its smallest to largest value (.5KB to 8192KB) and the total length was set to 256MB. The test program then spits out an extrapolated performance figure in megabytes per second.


Ahh finally, we have a test where the prowess of the Consus M is truly challenged (or at least with USB). The USB write speeds are a little on the low side when compared to the other enclosures but the difference is very small. What is more important and how most people are going to use this device, is the eSATA numbers which simply decimate the competition. This is to be expected as the eSATA protocol is not only newer but also vastly superior to the rapidly ageing USB protocol.


SIS Sandra XII Storage Benchmark

This test was run with the removable storage benchmark in Sandra XII Standard. All of the scores are calculated in operations per second and have been averaged out from the scores of 4 test runs.



The Consus M’s USB scores are very nice indeed, but once again come up a little short when compared to others. However (and just like the ATTO results) the eSATA results are not only damn good, but are so similar to this hard drive's internal numbers that should be considered as “one and the same”.


EXTENDED RUNTIME TESTING

Where these units are marketed towards the home environment, it is reasonable to expect them to be able to handle moderate usage, with random insertion and removal and random requests for data. To test how robust this unit is, and how well the active cooling would work, the Cosus M was subjected to a 48 hour torture session. During this time the hard drive was inserted and removed 40 times (and yes we did count the number), the hard drive was instructed to do a hard format and was filled and emptied numerous times.

If Consus M has an Achile’s heel it is its inability to properly shed heat. Aproximately 26hours into this test, the test was stopped as the case was getting so warm that we feared for the hard drives safety. When we removed the Seagate from the enclosure is was extremely warm. If the testing has continued we are fairly certain either the enclosures structural integrity or the hard drive itself wold have failed (hoestly, it would be a toss up as to which would die first).

As we did with the BlacX hard drive docking station we removed the Seagate and replaced it with a new single platter 320GB Western Digital SE16. After 48hrs of nonstop use the SE16, while getting warm, was not anywhere close to being in danger of overheating. Its removal and insertion was just as easy the last time as the first. While we would have some reservations in recommending a hot running hard drive for use in this enclosure, they are certainly not major reservations. Unless you plan on using this enclosure in marathon like data sessions the units thermal shedding ability should be more than adequate for everything but the most extreme of heat producers. In the end we would not hesitate to long in recommending you use and hard drive you wish (except for super hot running WD Raptor line or any mega hot hard drive) with this enclosure.