Disk Performance in Windows and Linux

I used IOMeter to run a performance test on the storage network at Environment Canada. There was a point when I was unsure whether or not I would be able to get all the disks to test available to one Linux machine, so I wanted to know if IOMeter results were comperable on Windows versus Linux.

I took an desktop Pentium III with a rather generic IDE harddisk and ran the same tests when booted from Windows XP Pro found on the other harddisk and a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 rescue CD.

Target Type	Linux	Windows
IOps	26147.4072	129.234693
Read IOps	12971.39475	64.265085
Write IOps	13176.01245	64.969608
MBps	334.93906	1.665443
Read MBps	166.137016	0.830396
Write MBps	168.802045	0.835047
Transactions per Second	26147.4072	129.234693
Connections per Second	0	0
Average Response Time	0.037145	7.736072
Average Read Response Time	0.037205	12.838305
Average Write Response Time	0.037085	2.689168
Average Transaction Time	0.037145	7.736072
Average Connection Time	0	0
Maximum Response Time	7.277046	56.640045
Maximum Read Response Time	5.331682	56.640045
Maximum Write Response Time	7.277046	37.456569
Maximum Transaction Time	7.277046	56.640045
Maximum Connection Time	0	0
Errors	0	0
Read Errors	0	0
Write Errors	0	0
Bytes Read	51980967424	221229568
Bytes Written	52814801920	222468608
Read I/Os	3870479	16328
Write I/Os	3931534	16507
Connections	0	0
Transactions per Connection	-1	-1
Total Raw Read Response Time	1.43581E+11	2.09624E+11
Total Raw Write Response Time	1.45376E+11	44390088176
Total Raw Transaction Time	2.88957E+11	2.54014E+11
Total Raw Connection Time	0	0
Maximum Raw Read Response Time	5316119	56640045
Maximum Raw Write Response Time	7255804	37456569
Maximum Raw Transaction Time	7255804	56640045
Maximum Raw Connection Time	0	0
Total Raw Run Time	2.97515E+11	2.54073E+11
% CPU Utilization	100	2.327142
% User Time	28.917035	0.943566
% Privileged Time	71.082965	1.401531
% DPC Time	0	0.114491
% Interrupt Time	0	0.52508
Processor Speed	997081000	1000000000
Interrupts per Second	1035.193004	1247.618523
CPU Effectiveness	261.474072	55.533655
Packets/Second	85.638654	83.008992
Segments Retransmitted/Second	0.003351	0.1025

So, this clearly shows that Windows has disk perfomance that is between 10-1000 times slower than Linux. Believe it? I don't. Same software, same hardware, same test, different results. Yet no credibility. I don't know what I did wrong as such, but I know that I don't trust those results. Consider that when ever you get any performance comparision, Linux versus Windows or otherwise.