Access time is another important measurement. It measures the time the hard disk drive delays to start delivering data after the computer has asked a given data. It is measured in the order of milliseconds (ms, which is equal to 0.001 s) and the lower this value, the better.

The results presented by the two programs were slightly different, so this time we plotted a chart showing the two programs.

In both programs Seagate Barracuda LP 2 TB achieved a better performance. On HD Tach it presented an access time 18% lower than Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB, while on HD Tune it presented an access time 14% lower than its competitor.