"IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second, pronounced eye-ops) is a common performance measurement used to benchmark computer storage devices like hard disk drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), and storage area networks (SAN)."
Input/output, or I/O, refers to active computer activity that usually involves the CPU, memory, and file storage. However, in the context of benchmarking storage devices such as HDDs and solid-state drives (SSDs), we simply refer to I/O as the max rate we can write to the storage device, and read from the storage device.
The total capacity for I/O Operations Per Second is given as a number in IOPS. For example, a single hard disk might be capable of 86 or 120 IOPS, while a SSD storage volume will have much higher input/output capacity.
For more information, see: SSD VPS Benchmarks
