Good day!
Most often, you need to test the read / write speed on an SSD after purchasing a new drive (sometimes to diagnose the slow operation of the computer, individual programs). There is no built-in tool in Windows to do this job - of course not 😉 ...
Actually, in this article I will give several utilities with which you can quickly (within 3-5 minutes!) Estimate the speed of an SSD.
By the way, many drive sellers also provide test results from these programs (therefore, the information is relevant for those users who are looking for a new drive and want to see the difference by comparing the indicators with their current drive).
So...
Addition!
How to check the status of an SSD drive (utilities for diagnosing the "health" of an SSD) - //ocomp.info/sostoyanie-ssd.html
Important!
To start testing: disable all programs that load the disk (games, editors, torrents, etc.). Also note how much free space is on your drive (it is recommended that this number be at least 20-25% (affects the test results)).
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How to check the read / write speed of an SSD drive
Option 1: CrystalDiskMark
Official site: //crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskmark/
A very simple and free program for testing the speed of disks (HDD, SSD, etc. drives). To start the test you need:
- download and extract the utility from the archive (you may need an archiver);
- after starting the program, specify the number of read / write cycles (by default, it costs 5), the file size for the test (by default 1 GB), and select the drive letter. In most cases, you can immediately specify the drive letter and leave the rest unchanged;
- press the "All" button and wait for the operation to end (see the screenshot below).
CrystalDiskMark - screenshot of disk speed test
I will decipher some points:
- Seq - sequential read / write speed (that is, if you, for example, copy a large file to this disk, then the copy speed will be approximately 470 MB / s, see the screen above). Many manufacturers mainly indicate this parameter on packaging (and advertising);
- 4KiB - random read / write of 4KB blocks (the program implements several such tests with different depths and streams). I recommend paying attention, first of all, to the 4KiB Q1T1 line.
Remark!
In general, many users (mostly) look at sequential read / write speed (Seq). However, according to statistics, more than half of the operations (>70%) with a disk falls into small files.
And the performance of many programs (the same Windows) is much more dependent on the read / write speed of an SSD of random 4 KB blocks (which, usually, no one informs about in advertisements. You can find out about real tests on specialized sites, for example, one of these plates , actual to date, is given below).
SSD Speed Rating (Random Write / Read 4KB Blocks)
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Option 2: AS SSD Benchmark
Developer site: //www.alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4&download_id=9
AS SSD Benchmark - SSD drive testing
Free utility for testing the speed of SSD drives. The program also allows you to get detailed information about the drive itself (manufacturer, model, etc.), current drivers, occupied / free space.
The presentation of the results is not much different from the previous utility: a small plate with the speed of reading / writing to the disk under various conditions is also displayed (unless the scores still appear here, and the test results can be sent to a screenshot or an XML file).
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Option 3: SSD-Z
Developer site: //aezay.dk/aezay/ssdz/
SSD-Z - screen of the program window
A relatively little-known utility that offers a fairly rich functionality. With it you can:
- test the speed of the SSD disk (see.section "Benchmark");
- find out the SMART indicators (drive self-diagnostics);
- see the temperature;
- find out the operating time, capacity, supported interfaces;
- determine the serial number, model, manufacturer;
- learn about supported technologies (the same TRIM), etc.
By the way, I can't help but note that although this utility specializes in SSDs, it also works with most HDD disks, offering similar functionality.
I will add that SSD-Z does not need to be installed (i.e. the program can be written to any of the flash drives and always have it at hand).
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Option 4: HD Tune
Official website: //www.hdtune.com/
Disk test screenshot (HD Tune)
Multifunctional software for working with hard disks (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), USB sticks, etc. With HD Tune you can:
- test performance and performance (see the "Tests" and "File Tests" sections);
- view SMART readings;
- scan the disk for errors;
- find out the current temperature of the drive;
- get information about the serial number of the disk, its size, clipboard, firmware, etc.;
- adjust the noise level (useful for "noisy" HDDs);
- delete files from the disk so that no one can restore them.
As for the speed test: the program shows not only a specific indicator (value), but also builds a graph (ideally, it should resemble a straight line without large waves). An example is in the screenshot above.
Where to see real disk tests
This data can be useful for you when buying a new SSD (to choose the fastest drive based on your capabilities). After all, it is always better to trust the figures that are obtained in practice than the promises of manufacturers on the packaging 😉 ...
By the way, if you are picking up a drive for a laptop, then some of the basics and points that you should pay attention to - you can learn from one of my last articles (link below).
How to choose a disk for a laptop, which is better: SSD or HDD (hard disk) - //ocomp.info/kak-vyibrat-disk-dlya-noutbuka.html
//ssd.userbenchmark.com/
A very convenient site for comparing the performance of CPUs, video cards, hard drives, SSDs, etc. The site contains real tests of SSD drives (almost 1000 pieces). The results are presented in a table that can be sorted by any of the columns (volume, write / read speed, price, user rating, etc.).
Thus, it is quite easy to select for yourself exactly what you need.
By the way, here on the site you can download specials. utility and check the performance of its main components: CPU, memory, video card, etc.
Table with SSD drives at //ssd.userbenchmark.com/ (Clickable)
//www.harddrivebenchmark.net/ssd.html
A similar site (although there are much more tables here). In addition to SSD, statistics are collected on processors, video cards, RAM, HDD and other components.
Drive rating from harddrivebenchmark.net
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👉 By the way, below is a small video that shows the difference in the speed of the computer (when using M2 NVME, SSD, HDD) in practice (from the moment you turn on the device to enter the game!).
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That's all for now ...
Happy work!
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