A hard drive is an important component of the computer on which the operating system (OS) is installed. If Windows is installed on a slow hard drive, it doesn’t matter how powerful the other components, such as the central processor and RAM, will be. An OS in this configuration will slowly load programs and freeze while performing several tasks simultaneously. For this reason, hard drives with high performance are very popular these days. The most demanding users install the OS on solid state SSDs.
There are various programs for testing the parameters of hard drives. Programs like PCMark and Passmark allow you to check the entire system. At the same time, there are utilities specifically designed to test the characteristics of hard drives and SSDs. In particular, such programs allow you to check the read and write speeds of the hard drive. All these tools can be run on 32-bit and 64-bit systems Windows Vista, XP, 7, 8.
Hd tach
The testing program, released back in 2004, but remains relevant today. It is possible to select the test mode for long blocks (32 MB) or short blocks (8 MB). Results appear within minutes. The program window displays a graph with the read speeds of the hard disk at various points. In addition, information is provided on CPU utilization, average access time, and read speed.
Crystaldiskmark
A very popular memory testing tool. Deserved its success due to its versatility. It can be used to evaluate the characteristics of devices of various types: flash drives, memory cards, RAM, solid state and hard drives.
Very easy to use program. In it, you can set the size of the test file (in the range of 50 MB-4 GB) and the number of cycles. A larger number of cycles leads to a more accurate result, but the testing time is increased.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
This program is often used by site owners involved in hardware reviews. Recommended by some manufacturers (e.g. Corsair) for testing SSDs. All tests are sequential and are carried out for read / write operations in blocks from 512 Bt to 8 Mb in size. The size of the test file is from 64 KB to 2 GB.
AS SSD Benchmark
The program is intended mainly for testing solid state drives. A popular tool used by online computer equipment magazines such as AnandTech. Please note that the program uses uncompressed data, while SSDs usually compress their data. Therefore, the values displayed in the program window will be lower than the real ones.
The application determines the speed of reading the hard disk (recording) in sequential and random mode, and the access time to a random section of the disk. Small files are recorded in blocks of 4 KB. In the settings menu, you can select some more additional useful tools. In particular, you can run a copy test, during which to copy ISO-images, games and programs.
HD tune
One of the most famous utilities for diagnosing and testing hard drives. The free version of 2.55 may seem outdated, it has not been updated since 2008, and has some drawbacks that affect the testing of the latest models of hard drives. However, with features such as error checking and testing, it does a great job. After the test, the graph shows the minimum, maximum and average read speed, as well as access time and caching speed. The block size can be changed from 512 bytes to 8 MB.
Anvil's Storage Utilities
The program for checking the performance and testing of hard drives and SSDs. It is possible to perform a complete read and write test in sequential and random modes. At the end of the test, the following results are displayed: response time, speed in MB, number of input / output operations per second (IOPS). The full cycle value is displayed in a yellow box. In addition, the program provides the possibility of conducting three additional IOPS tests, there is a function of testing wear resistance and there is the possibility of changing the degree of compression of the test file.
Disk thruput tester
A small tool to check the write and read speeds of a hard disk in a sequential and random way. The size of the test file can be from 10 MB to 100 GB, the block size - from 1 KB to 8 MB. To test another hard drive, you must change the path of the test file by selecting the User defined path option and the corresponding letter. It is possible to configure file caching. However, when using this function, the results are often greatly distorted. Therefore, it is advisable to refrain from its use.
Roadkil's disk speed
Roadkil is a set of simple and useful utilities, one of which is the Disk Speed hard disk read speed checker. After starting, you must select a logical or physical medium and click the Begin button. In this case, only read tests will be launched.
You can select a block size from 512 bytes to 1 MB for sequential or random operations. The Results in Brie field displays the average access time, maximum read speed, and cache speed. The overall results can be compared online on the Roadkil website with similar results for hard drives of the same models.
HD speed
HD Speed, like Roadkil, is a small portable program with a size of about 90 KB, which has many configuration parameters suitable for various memory devices. Be careful before writing a test file to any device, all data on it will be destroyed.
The function of testing a specific disk space is a distinctive feature of this program. 0% corresponds to the faster external part of the hard drive, 100% to the slower internal part. To start the program and build an average speed chart, you need to select a disk, enter the start time and click the Start button. The block size varies within 1 Kb - 16 Mb. A log file is created to view the results.
Diskmark
This tool is designed to display information about the average, minimum, maximum and latest read and write speeds. To get the correct results, you must enter the data correctly.
How to check the read speed of a hard disk using DiskMark? You can leave the default block size values of 64 KB, the test file is 8 MB, the number of times the test file is used is 320 times. If desired, the default values can be changed. For example, the block size can be set to 1 MB or 4 KB in the Set Size field. Then, in the Rounds field, enter the number of blocks to create the test file, then enter the number of times this file will be written and read into the Iterations field. If the settings are incorrect, a very short test will be performed, the accuracy of which will not be very high.
Inexperienced users can be confused by the large number of different numbers displayed by the programs. And they will not know what to look for. The following are the main values that should interest them.
Sequential (linear) speed is the speed at which a disk can continuously read or write data as large files. Sequential speed tests show the highest possible read and write values that can be achieved.
4K - the results of the programs in this field show how quickly the disk gets access to small files. These results are especially important for Windows startup disks. Random 4K read and write speeds show how quickly files are accessed when they are scattered across a disk partition, as in Windows. Higher random hard drive read speeds mean better and smoother multitasking. For example, when buying a solid-state drive to install an operating system on it, you should first check the values of random read / write speeds, and only then sequential ones.