PCMark vantage has a very good test suite to benchmark storage performance. The software will look at items you normally do with your PC and tries to measure what kind of an effect that has on your user experience by testing eight different segments stressing the storage unit.

• HDD1 - Spyware is very common on systems without protection against it, letting Windows Defender scan & protect your system is recommended.
• HDD2 - Streaming data from an HDD in games allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action.
• HDD3 - Importing digital photos to Windows Photo Gallery is where a high performance HDD shines.
• HDD4 - Starting Windows Vista is a rather demanding task for the storage device, but a fast HDD will notably decrease the loading time.

The tests include a series of read, writes and copies. The Silicon power write speed is a little slower than the OCZ Core drive, but the read speeds are just amazing. No matter how you look at it, the overall speed is just much faster than any conventional HDD.

Let's fire up the second series of tests:

• HDD5 - Home video editing with Windows Movie Maker can be very time-consuming – unless you have a high performance HDD.
• HDD6 - Windows Media Center with a high performance HDD can handle simultaneous video recording, time-shifting, and streaming to an Extender for Windows Media Center, such as Xbox 360™.
• HDD7 - Cataloguing your music library is a breeze for fast and powerful HDDs.
• HDD8 - Starting various applications can take a long time – unless you have a high performance HDD.

Now especially in test 5 (video editing) and 6 (MCE) we see the traditional mechanical Raptor drive lead. Still the Silicon power SSD is heaps faster than a good 7200 RPM drive. Throughout these test the product shines big-time due to the fantastic read speeds.