Seagate Exos X20 20TB HDD Review

1. Introduction2. Seagate Exos X20 20TB3. Testing Methodology4. CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO Disk Benchmark6. IOMeter 4K Random Performance7. Throughput8. Workload Scenarios9. Real Life File Transfer Tests10. Closing Thoughts11. View All Pages

We tested the Exos X20 with a number of scenarios that it may face in the real world. The settings for these scenarios are as follows.

File Server
512MB file size, 16KB Block size
80% Read 20% Write 100% Random
I/O queue depth 128

Web Server
1GB file size, 16KB Block size
100% Read 0% Write 100% Random
I/O queue depth 64

Database
2GB file size, 4KB Block size
90% Read 10% Write, 90% Random, 10% Sequential
I/O depth 128

Workstation
1GB file size, 16KB Block size
70% Read 30% Write, 100% Random, 0% Sequential
I/O depth 64

The 20TB Exos X20 handled the workload scenarios pretty well, with the fastest bandwidth speeds we’ve seen to date for the File Server test (10.81MB/s) and the Workstation test (7.33MB/s). It didn’t fare so well in the Database test with a bandwidth figure of 1.36MB/s.

We also tested the Exos X20 with some more datacentre centric workloads. The settings for these workloads are as follows.

Database Server QD4
Transfer Size: 4K , Reads: 67% Writes: 33%
Random: 100%, Threads/Workers: 4
Outstanding IO: 4

Database Server QD64
Transfer Size: 4K, Reads: 67% Writes: 33%
Random: 100% , Threads/Workers: 4
Outstanding IO: 64

Exchange Email 4K
Transfer Size: 4K, Reads: 67% Writes: 33%
Random: 100%, Threads/Workers: 4
Outstanding IO: 128

Exchange Email 32K
Transfer Size: 32K, Reads: 67% Writes: 33%
Random: 100%, Threads/Workers: 4
Outstanding IO: 128

Media Streaming
Transfer Size: 64K, Reads: 98% Writes: 2%
Sequential: 100%, Threads/Workers: 8
Outstanding IO: 64

Search Engine
Transfer Size: 4K, Reads: 100% Writes: 0%
Random: 100%, Threads/Workers:8
Outstanding IO: 128

Video On Demand
Transfer Size: 512K, Reads: 100% Writes: 0%
Random: 100%, Threads/Workers: 8
Outstanding IO: 64

Web File Server 4KB QD64
Transfer Size: 4K, Reads: 95% Writes 5%
Random: 75%, Threads/Workers: 8
Outstanding IO: 64

Web File Server 8KB QD64
Transfer Size: 8K, Reads: 95% Writes 5%
Random: 75%, Threads/Workers: 8
Outstanding IO: 64

In these data centre scenarios, the Exos X20 showed strong performance for each of the workloads. The fastest performance came from the Media Streaming workload at 2,085 IOPS while the slowest, 237 IOPS, came from the Video On Demand test.

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