AXIOMTEK ExBoot 80GB External Storage
by Purav Sanghani on November 10, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Real World Tests – Multitasking Performance
We apply the same changes to our Real World Multitasking Performance tests and have also modified the test to relate to typical external storage device uses. We now measure the time that it takes to zip a single 300MB file while copying a 4.5GB file to the external device from a SATA drive.
Surprisingly, the ExBoot takes the lead here, chopping off up to 90 seconds to zip a 300MB file to the drive while copying a 4GB file to the drive at the same time. We are surprised to see this with the ExBoot holding a drive that has lower density platters and a smaller buffer.
Final Thoughts
With a capacity of 80GB, the ExBoot is a good choice for those who are looking for a drive that will back up their smaller home PC drives. This drive, however, would not fit a small business, or even the average multimedia fanatic, as 80GB of hard disk space is becoming less common, even at home.
The performance of the drive surprised us, seeing that the WD800BB uses three 27GB platters, a much lower density than what the drives in the E5 and Seagate’s 120GB drive use. The single benchmark that gave us comfort was the last multitasking test where we zipped a 300MB file to the drive from our SATA test bed drive while copying a 4GB file to the drive as well. The time to zip the file to the drive took almost 90 seconds less compared to the Seagate 120GB and even shorter than 90 seconds compared to the E5’s USB interface.
The software is mediocre at best. It does its job in doing a full backup during its schedules, but it does not allows us to choose what files we want backed up, but rather a single option to backup/restore an entire volume. This is trouble if your source drive is larger than 74GB. The PushButton backup assignment is also frustrating, in that we cannot assign a predefined backup to the button. The E5’s bundled Retrospect Express and the Bounceback Express that came with the Seagate drive were fullly featured, even with their “Express” naming convention. We were able to choose what files we wanted to back up instead of having our options limited.
The ExBoot 80GB has a low capacity and software that just barely does its job. There are a handful of drives out there, if not more, that have full-featured software packages and larger capacities that can do their job much more efficiently, and for this reason, we cannot recommend this drive to even the average user.
We apply the same changes to our Real World Multitasking Performance tests and have also modified the test to relate to typical external storage device uses. We now measure the time that it takes to zip a single 300MB file while copying a 4.5GB file to the external device from a SATA drive.
| Multitasking – 4GB File Copy + 300MB File Zip, seconds, lower is better | |||
| Within Drive | To Drive (From SATA) | Difference | |
| AcomData E5 320GB (USB) | 186.586 | 199.154 | 12.568 |
| AcomData E5 320GB (FireWire 400) | 173.453 | 187.438 | 13.985 |
| ExBoot 80GB USB | 102.296 | 107.594 | 5.298 |
| Seagate 120GB USB | 199.416 | 197.086 | 2.330 |
Surprisingly, the ExBoot takes the lead here, chopping off up to 90 seconds to zip a 300MB file to the drive while copying a 4GB file to the drive at the same time. We are surprised to see this with the ExBoot holding a drive that has lower density platters and a smaller buffer.
Final Thoughts
With a capacity of 80GB, the ExBoot is a good choice for those who are looking for a drive that will back up their smaller home PC drives. This drive, however, would not fit a small business, or even the average multimedia fanatic, as 80GB of hard disk space is becoming less common, even at home.
The performance of the drive surprised us, seeing that the WD800BB uses three 27GB platters, a much lower density than what the drives in the E5 and Seagate’s 120GB drive use. The single benchmark that gave us comfort was the last multitasking test where we zipped a 300MB file to the drive from our SATA test bed drive while copying a 4GB file to the drive as well. The time to zip the file to the drive took almost 90 seconds less compared to the Seagate 120GB and even shorter than 90 seconds compared to the E5’s USB interface.
The software is mediocre at best. It does its job in doing a full backup during its schedules, but it does not allows us to choose what files we want backed up, but rather a single option to backup/restore an entire volume. This is trouble if your source drive is larger than 74GB. The PushButton backup assignment is also frustrating, in that we cannot assign a predefined backup to the button. The E5’s bundled Retrospect Express and the Bounceback Express that came with the Seagate drive were fullly featured, even with their “Express” naming convention. We were able to choose what files we wanted to back up instead of having our options limited.
The ExBoot 80GB has a low capacity and software that just barely does its job. There are a handful of drives out there, if not more, that have full-featured software packages and larger capacities that can do their job much more efficiently, and for this reason, we cannot recommend this drive to even the average user.
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ktchowkt - Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - link
I was able to backup my notebook's SATA hard disk without any problem but when it comes to restoration, it is a different ball game. As my notebook does not support boot up from USB, I used the Recovery CD from exboot to boot up. Unfortunately, the restoration cannot be done because the recovery software does not detect the hard disk in my notebook. Is it because the software cannot support SATA hard disk?LoneWolf15 - Thursday, November 10, 2005 - link
External USB/Firewire drives are commonplace these days. I can choose from a dozen manufacturers based on price, quality of construction (I prefer metal-cased drives and rubber antishock mounts for the HDD itself), etc., or I can even buy an enclosure and choose my own drive, which I've already done, since a USB 2.0/Firewire case was about $40 on sale a year ago, which lets me choose the performance I want by choosing a hard disk to fit my needsWhat makes or breaks a pre-made drive then, is the software and features like the pushbutton backup, which the company didn't even bother to include software support for (or so it sounds like from the wording of the review). Does the backup software offer data compression so I could perhaps fit 100-140GB of data on that 80GB drive? Didn't sound like it, but it wasn't made clear. How well did the backup software work? You didn't tell me how a backup/restore of a boot drive worked. And of course, it was mentioned that the user couldn't choose which files to back up. The ExBoot says on the side of the case "Backup and Instant Recovery". For any drive that bears that logo, a review ought to exhaustively test that claim.
I agree this is a less-than-average product. Most uber-geeks don't buy an external HDD for ultimate performance; for that, we'd get an internal SATA or PATA drive. Performance testing is good up to a point, but most enthusiasts buy an external disk for transfer between multiple computers, or for backup. If ExBoot wants to sell me a drive, I want all the features working, and your top quality software, no matter which capacity drive I choose. Otherwise I can buy a five-year warranty Seagate IDE disk (note: very few external HDD manufacturers offer more than a 1-year warranty) and put it in an enclosure of my choosing, and then purchase Symantec Ghost or even use Windows Backup for free.
g33k - Saturday, November 12, 2005 - link
Does this thing boot to windows externally? I don't think win xp can boot from an external hdd. When XP initially loads, all the USB devices reset. Therefore I don't think you can boot to windows with this?PuravSanghani - Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - link
The system will actually boot off this USB device if a successful backup is made with the software. It is also one of the main features of the drive.Purav
TallCoolOne - Thursday, November 10, 2005 - link
This would be good for someone booting from a 74GB Raptor drive. As mentioned, the spartan software is not a problem if backing up an entire volume.ElFenix - Thursday, November 10, 2005 - link
i doubt you'd find many volumes to back up that were larger than that.Pete84 - Thursday, November 10, 2005 - link
I have a 120Gb external that I use for backups of DVD images and the like, and that is too small. 80Gb? wow