It seems that you are using FastCopy III to format the disk. This software make a non-standard track layout which change the read/write speed.
The *.ST emulation in the HxC use the TOS track standard.
Here is the read speed difference between these 2 layout formats with
a real floppy disk :
Read test with FastCopy III:
With a floppy disk formatted with the TOS :
READ Time : 40s
(Exactly as the ST HXC emulation)
With a floppy disk formatted with FCIII :
READ Time : 34s
And that's why the HFE emulation read speed is seems faster : It just use the format sent by FC III during your previous test.
If you reformat this same HFE image with the TOS, you will have a read speed of 40s in FCIII too.
I can of course adjust the ST emulation to the FC III track layout but i am definitively not a big fan of this solution since the FCIII layout seems to be more an hack than anything else.
For the write speed this is more or less the same, plus the USB write latency :
Write test with FastCopy III (9sec/track - Copy only - no format):
-> To Floppy (FCIII Formatted) : 34s
-> To Floppy (TOS Formatted) : 40s
-> To HxC ST (TOS Formatted) : 46s
-> To HxC HFE (FCIII Formatted) : 59s
The problem with HFE is the memory size inside the Gotek: One track doesn't fit the Gotek internal memory and i can't write back the whole track to the USB stick with a single write command.
But anyway i still have some room to optimize the write speed.
EDIT :
tzok wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2018 12:43 am
1) It is slightly slower than a real FDD
Real FDD (80TRK/9SEC):
READ: 0:34
FMT+WRITE: 1:06
ST Image (80TRK/9SEC):
READ: 0:40
FMT+WRITE: 1:38
HFE Image (80TRK/9SEC):
READ: 0:33
FMT+WRITE: 1:41
Your FDD time is interesting : I have done the time measurement with an STE Machine + a Chinon FZ354 disk drive and i got something slightly slower :
Real FDD (80TRK/9SEC):
READ: 0:34
FMT+WRITE: 1:22
Test done twice times...