The average CPU utilization of this drive under NT is 3.25%
The average CPU utilization of this drive under 98 is 7.98%
(Computed under Threadmark 2.0)

As you can see, the Business Disk Winmark score are significantly lower than the High end scores due to the fact that the business applications tested do not rely on intensive disk reads with large files.

So if a drive is rated at 241 Megabits/second, why are we seeing such low numbers? Firstly, these number are not low. And secondly, the reason you are looking at performance ratings well below the manufacturer specification is this. The rated transfer specification is the burst rate of the drive, or the maximum rate that a drive can transfer data. Simply transferring data over the bus is only one aspect of the overall process of data transfer.

Commands are to be executed to the drive and a seek must be performed to locate the data on the disk. In certain circumstances, this can account for the majority of the time it takes in the process of transferring data. Thus, this is why you see performance numbers that are well below the manufacturer's rated drive transfer rates.

The ATA/66 interface has faced severe criticism being accused of delivering mediocre improvements (if any) over the previous ATA/33 interface. But before words start to fly, let us look at the numbers. Take this Quantum drive for example, the maximum burst transfer rate from the disk to the buffer is 241.9 Megabits/sec or 30.24MB/sec.

This rate is nearing the limits of the capability of the ATA/33 interface. With internal transfer speeds doubling every three years, the 30.24MB/sec would translate into 60.47MB/sec making the ATA/33 the apparent bottleneck in hard disk performance. ATA/66 was created to give current technology the time and space it needs to grow. So although we may not immediately see the benefits of ATA/66, you certainly will see it in the near future once internal data transfer rates of hard disks start to grow. So be wise and neglect those nasty comments towards the ATA/66 movement and remember, it is not the interface which is not showing the results, but rather the current state of hard disks.

The overall performance of the Quantum Fireball CX 13.0GB is on par if not better than other hard disks of Quantum's competitors operating at the 5400 rpm level. Though this model was released in early 1999, it still qualifies as solid performer right now in early 2000 with a good number of 7200 rpm out on the market such as Quantum's own Fireball KA and KX models.