HD Tach 3.0.4.0	Source: TCD Labs Inc.

HD Tach is a physical performance hard drive test for Windows that uses a special kernel mode VXD to get maximum accuracy by bypassing the file system. HD Tach reads from areas all over the hard drive and reports an average speed. It also logs the read speeds to a text file that you can load into a spreadsheet and graph to visually read the results of the test. Higher bandwidth (MB/s) and lower latencies (ms) are better.

HD Tach 3.0.4 - 8MB Tests - READ Burst Speed: (Mb/s) Points Ranking Western Digital RE4 1TB WD1003FBYX HDD 209.9 Western Digital 1TB WD1001FALS HDD 214.7 Crucial M4 256GB SSD 387.6 SanDisk Etreme 240GB SSD 293.3 OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD 356.3 OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD 266.6 Plextor PX-128M1S SSD 143.4 Seagate 3TB Barracuda XT HDD 366.4 Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT HDD 336.4 Seagate 750GB Momentus XT SSHD 405.1 Seagate 500GB Momentus XT SSHD 231.7 Average Read: (MB/s) Points Ranking Western Digital RE4 1TB WD1003FBYX HDD 115.2 Western Digital 1TB WD1001FALS HDD 90.5 Crucial M4 256GB SSD 390.2 SanDisk Etreme 240GB SSD 369.2 OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD 390.2 OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD 243.7 Plextor PX-128M1S SSD 103.4 Seagate 3TB Barracuda XT HDD 137.3 Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT HDD 115.5 Seagate 750GB Momentus XT SSHD 95.9 Seagate 500GB Momentus XT SSHD 89.4 Random Access Time: (ms) Points Ranking Western Digital RE4 1TB WD1003FBYX HDD 11.8 Western Digital 1TB WD1001FALS HDD 12.1 Crucial M4 256GB SSD 0.1 SanDisk Etreme 240GB SSD 0.1 OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD 0.1 OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD 0.1 Plextor PX-128M1S SSD 0.3 Seagate 3TB Barracuda XT HDD 16.7 Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT HDD 17 Seagate 750GB Momentus XT SSHD 0.4 Seagate 500GB Momentus XT SSHD 17

Sustained (average) read rates for the 256GB Crucial M4 SSD are 390.2MB/s. Burst speed is a very high 387.6MB/s - faster than the SanDisk Extreme SSD. Like all other SSDs, Random Access Time is 01.ms.

Next, Sandra 2012.

SiSoft Sandra 2012 - HDD Read and Write tests	Source: Sandra

Sandra is designed to test the theoretical power of a complete system as well as the individual components. The results are also purely theoretical and may not represent real world performance. Higher points are better.

SiSoft Sandra 2012 - Hard Drive Read Tests Read Drive Index: Points Ranking Western Digital RE4 1TB WD1003FBYX HDD 109.14 Western Digital 1TB WD1001FALS HDD 80.13 Crucial M4 256GB SSD 535.65 SanDisk Etreme 240GB SSD 538.33 OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD 534.34 OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD 253.65 Plextor PX-128M1S SSD 87.5 Seagate 3TB Barracuda XT HDD 127.86 Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT HDD 110.85 Seagate 750GB Momentus XT SSHD 91.39 Seagate 500GB Momentus XT SSHD 84.53 Read Random Access Time: (ms) Points Ranking Western Digital RE4 1TB WD1003FBYX HDD 9.2 Western Digital 1TB WD1001FALS HDD 4 Crucial M4 256GB SSD 0.19 SanDisk Etreme 240GB SSD 0.13 OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD 0.3 OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD 0.55 Plextor PX-128M1S SSD 0.55 Seagate 3TB Barracuda XT HDD 17.23 Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT HDD 17.8 Seagate 750GB Momentus XT SSHD 15 Seagate 500GB Momentus XT SSHD 17.78

When it comes to read performance the 256GB Crucial M4 SSD weighs in at 535.65MB/s, dead center between the SanDisk Extreme and OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs. Read Random Access Time is 0.19ms.