File Copy Performance

We copied a single 945MB file from the desktop on the C:\ drive to another partition on the same drive (E:\), and then deleted the file on the desktop before copying it back, before finally repeating the process back to the E:\. This shows the time it takes to initially copying the file, as well as the caching taking place by the OS to improve performance.


We saw file copy performance improvements in Vista Service Pack 1, and again we see more improvements in Windows 7 - there's a noticeable improvement in the first copy time. Even the caching method on Windows 7 is an improvement but it's less noticeable than the file copy improvements because both operating systems take only a few seconds.

Network Copy Performance

Like the drive copy testing, we copied the same 945MB file back and forth to and from a D-Link NAS box using Gigabit Ethernet, timing how long each transfer took place.


Surprisingly the network copy performance was consistently slower for Windows 7 (we made sure we tested without anyone else using our internal network), especially on the copy from OS back to the network.

Boot Times

We tested boot times from the moment the display kicked in after restarting, to when the Windows desktop finally loaded and the cursor stopped telling us it was busy. We restarted the machine multiple times to determine an average result.


Windows 7 is notably faster than Vista - in fact, it edges out a sub minute boot with a 63 percent performance advantage.