Seagate Desktop 3.5″ 4TB Solid State Hybrid Drive Review

BootRacer

BootRacer automatically tests how long Windows takes to start and saves it in a history database. You can analyze it to compare boot times, when you install a new program. The cool feature of BootRacer is a realistic measurement of the time taken to get to the Windows desktop.The remaining time counter gets you know how soon your PC will be ready to use. BootRacer excludes a user password timeout from your result. Using your result, you can send it directly from application to the boot speed contest on the BootRacer web site.

On each drive we install a fresh copy of Windows 7 64-bit and after installing BootRacer, the system is then put through ten cold boot cycles with the boot to desktop recorded. Using this method eliminates any variables such as the loading of programs, drivers and other utilities that would otherwise skew the results from one drive to another.

BootRacer is a new test to the lineup of tests that I put drives through and for a hybrid drive, this is one of the best tests to show the benefit over a standard mechanical product. As we can see from the chart above, there is a consistent improvement in the boot time to desktop as the Windows files are cached to the NAND area of the drive. From the first to the tenth boot we record a drop in boot time of 7.277 seconds, a reduction of around 15%. Once you take into account all the drivers etc that would then normally get loaded on each cold start, the difference becomes more notable in the long run.