The IOMeter benchmark is run by using workstation and database patterns for queue depths (outstanding I/Os) representing very light and moderate loads. Iometer is both a workload generator (that is, it performs I/O operations in order to stress the system) and a measurement tool (that is, it examines and records the performance of its I/O operations and their impact on the system). The app's ability to bombard drives with an escalating number of concurrent IO requests also does a nice job of simulating the sort of demanding multi-user environments that are common in enterprise applications. We use the same workload for all the SSD tests we run, in order to make safer comparisons.

Overall, the IOPS delivered by the Crucial P1 1TB SSD were low, and the drive gave the lowest performance among the rest we put on test. Obviously, the specific workload is too demanding for Crucial's consumer-oriented SSD: