Based on our testing we can conclude that Windows 8.1 is consistently faster in data throughput on Solid State Disks (SSDs) than Windows 7. Our tests were conducted by our Senior Reviewer Wendy Robertson and she noticed that results on Windows 8.1 are on all occasions 3 MB/s to 4 MB/s higher than the same tests on Windows 7. Below the graph with results from several SSDs.
The tests were performed while developing a new version of our Myce Reality Suite and they showed consistent results, Windows 8.1 is always faster than Windows 7.
The reason why it's faster is unknown, it wouldn't be surprising if Microsoft made optimisations to its latest operating system but the company has not disclosed any information on what was internally changed for disk operations. Windows 8 does have a drive optimisation feature, but that shouldn't have had any influence on our testing.
The differences were discovered during the development of the third version of our Myce Reality Suite of tests. A range of tests made from real everyday applications and real data, there are no simulated tests and everything is in the real world. The only thing that’s synthetic is that everything is automated to make the tests fair, no matter which drive the tests are run on.
Recorded user sessions, by means of a script, are used to launch the applications, load data, edit data, and then finally write that data back to the target drive. The scripts do load the system much more than a human could with these tests, as the scripts do not make mistakes, or pause to think about what has to be done next. To see how the SSDs perform in other tests of the Myce Reality Suite, check out our reviews.
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