Last month I reported on a difference in speed when copying large numbers of files from a server to a PC or a Mac.  I performed the tests again but this time the source of the files was a hard drive connected via firewire cable.  This time the difference between Mac and PC was negligible.  The new, striking graph is available after the jump.

Have you noticed that the average time to copy files into a folder increases with the number of files?  You may have if you use a Mac.

Here at National Geographic magazine there does appear to be a difference in how long it takes to copy JPEG photographs into a folder.  My hypothesis was that on a PC (Windows XP) the time to copy each file does not change as the number of files in a folder increases, while on a Mac (OS 10.4) the average time increases as more files are in a folder.  I put this hypothesis to the test and the results are dramatic.  Read the results after the jump.