Ready for a hard drive speed test? Learn what are the best hard drive benchmark software and how to interpret your SSD and HDD benchmark results.

1. My Hdd Speed
2. Mac Hard Drive Speed Test
3. Mac Hard Drive Speed Test
4. Ssd Vs Hdd Speed Comparison

Ask any techie and chances are they will tell you that hard disk speeds given by manufacturers are often overstated or misleading (e.g. speeds attained under unrealistic scenarios).

See how to test the speed of your hard drive. Also see in this video how well some of my hard drives perform and rate your own against these results. Note: The downloads for System Test Lite v12.5 from this page are for the Apple Store and Windows standalone versions of System Test. Fine-tune Drive Performance Perform a speed test of any drive, including network mapped drives, to give you insight into the read/write performance and overall throughput of the system.

In that case, the only sure-fire method to determine your real-world hard disk speed is to put it through a reliable hard drive performance test.

My Hdd Speed

And once you have the benchmark results, we'll point out what are the numbers to look for and what they mean in plain English.

How to Run a SSD Benchmark or HDD Benchmark

Let's begin by introducing you to the big names in hard drive speed test software: Atto Disk Benchmark, CrystalDiskMark and HD Tune.

While they are all dependable hard drive benchmark tools, we recommend CrystalDiskMark over the others for the following reasons:

• Works like a charm with almost everything - Hard disk drives, solid state drives, external hard drives, USB flash drives and even memory cards.
  
• Simple to use with a clean interface - Easy-to-understand benchmark results without excessive technical details (see screenshot below):
  

The three simple steps for running a SSD benchmark or HDD benchmark with CrystalDiskMark:

1. Choose the drive that you want to benchmark (outlined in red above)

2. Leave the number of test runs and test size at default values (number of test runs: 5, test size: 1000MB).

3. Click the 'All' button at the top left and wait for the benchmark results.

What Your SSD or HDD Benchmark Results Mean

Now that we have our hard drive benchmark results, let's make sense of the numbers:

The numbers that will matter to most people are the ones in the 'Seq' and '4K' row (outlined in red above).

Seq is short for sequential (read/write speeds), and 4K refers to random (read/write speeds).

Sequential read/write - measures the speed of your hard drive when it comes to the transfer of large files (e.g. installing programs, copying videos, programs, photo albums or music libraries from one hard drive to another). High sequential read speeds will also shorten the loading time for large programs such as modern computer games and video editing software.

Mac Hard Drive Speed Test

4K random read/write - measures how fast your hard drive is able to access small files that are randomly scattered across it. A hard drive with higher 4K numbers will able to multi-task better, so your operating system will be more responsive and you can run more background programs (e.g. virus shield, firewall, torrents, instant messengers etc) without any major slowdowns.

For an operating system boot drive, 4K random read speeds are the most important, followed by 4K random write speed.

For a mass storage drive (e.g. external hard drives and USB flash drives), sequential read/writes will matter more.

Recommended Hard Drives

Budget Computer: Western Digital Blue 1 TB

Mid Range Computer: Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD + Western Digital Blue 1 TB

Gaming Computer: Samsung 850 Evo 500 GB SSD + Western Digital Black 2 TB

Home Theater PC: Western Digital Green 3 TB

HARD DRIVE GUIDE

Hard Disk Drive HDD

• Western Digital Caviar Blue vs Black vs Green
  

Solid State Drive SSD

At present, almost all types of works are done using the computer system. So, it is very important to check the performance and effectivity of the computer for efficient work. The performance of the computer is dependent on the condition of the hard drive. As hard drive stores all the data permanently, so if it gets slow then the computer automatically starts displaying sluggish behaviour. So, it is very important for regularly checking, cleaning and updating the speed of the hard drive. Sometimes, people may have to change their hard drive for running the computer smoothly.

Now, the question arises how can we check the speed of the hard drive. There are many software available which can be used for hard drive speed test of PC. However, for better results you software plays an important role. So, make sure that the software is reliable and effective before using it for checking the speed. In this article, you will get the list of the best software for checking the hard drive speed for both Windows and macOS. You will find the steps to use that software for hard drive speed test as well. Go through the article thoroughly to know about it more.

1. HD Tach

HD Tach is a very powerful tool which can be used to bring out the hard drive speed test in Windows PC. You can download this software by clicking here.

This software is capable to read all the parts of the hard drive thoroughly. You can use this to check the burst speed as well. With an average speed report, HD Tach reads the data of the hard drive both in a sequential and random way. You can obtain all the data acquired while checking the hard drive in a spreadsheet.

Compatibility: Windows

Steps to use it:

1. Download and install this software.
2. Go to Local Disk (C:) and then right click on HD Tach.
3. Go to Compatibility and then select Windows XP (Service Pack 3) and “Run this program as an administrator”.
4. Click on Ok> Run Test.

Hence, you will get the test results of the speed of the hard drive.

2. ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO Disk Benchmark is an amazing software to be used with a complex hard drive with overlapped input-output. No matter what is the number of queue depths, it carries its continuous testing of the speed of hard drive with its time mode feature. It enables the user to transfer sizes up to 64 MB.

Compatibility: Windows

Steps to use it:

1. Download and install it and then open its .exe files.
2. Select the location of your hard drive and click on Ok.
3. Wait until results are out.

In this way, get started with the process of testing the hard drive using this software.

3. Anvil’s Storage Utilities

Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a hard drive reader which gives the complete report about its flexibility and efficiency. You can use its tool to read and write the hard drive completely both using sequential and random operations. Its report is completely up to date and with all the elements and status necessary for the health of the hard drive. It runs three IOPS tests giving best results.

Compatibility: Windows

Steps to use it:

1. Download and install the application.
2. Open the app and get all the information related to your system.
3. Make sure that configuration is correct by checking the settings.
4. Now, tap on the “Start” button.

In this way, the test will start resulting in the complete information.

4. RoadKil Speed Test

With the simplest and user-friendly interface, RoadKil Speed Test is a suitable hard drive tester for Windows system. You can check the speed of your hard drive to transfer data with its tool. You can set the benchmark and compare your own set of speeds with that.

Compatibility: Windows

Steps to use it:

1. First of all, download and install the application.
2. Open them all and enter the drive name to be tested.
3. Click on “Begin test”.

In this way, you can obtain the hard drive speed and other necessary information using this tool.

5. Parkdale

Parkdale is multi-functioning software with many advanced tools to measure the speed of hard drives, network servers and CD ROM devices. You can use it in three different modes as per the preference i.e., FileAccess, QuickAccess and BlockAccess. It also calculates the transfer speeds of the hard disks in KB/s or MB/s.

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

Steps to use it:

1. Download and install the application.
2. Open the application and then select the hard drive which you want to calibrate. Among the given modes of this software, select one as per your choice.
3. Now, click on the “Start” button.

In this way, you can start the process of testing your selected drive.

6. CrystalDiskMark

You can check the complete workability of your hard drive using CrystalDiskMark. It is a freeware utility with advanced tools which is helpful in reading and writing the hard drive using both sequential and random operations. You can check any of your drive including the external hard drive with this software. This software is very helpful for getting the performance status of the hard disk.

Compatibility: Windows

Steps to use it:

1. First of all, download and install the CrystalDiskMark.
2. Now, open the app and run the program to get the information about the software.
3. Now, go to “Settings” and set the number of runs as “1”, size to test as “ 50 MB” and select the drive on which you want to run the test.
4. Select the “All” button to process the test.

In this way, the process of the test starts running for the selected drive with the CrystalDiskMark.

Mac Hard Drive Speed Test

7. BlackMagic Disk Speed Test

BlackMagic Disk Speed Test is an amazing application which you can use to check the speed of the hard drive on Mac. It has a very simple and intuitive interface with one window. You can start using it with very customizations in the settings. It checks the hard drive and calculates the speed of the hard drive to read and write in MB per second. You will really love this app to calculate the speed and compatibility with advanced tools.

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite

Steps to use it:

1. Download and install the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test.
2. It runs the test process in a single step. All you need to do is to click on the “Start” button. Hence, the process will get started.
3. You need to select the target drive and mark the stress.

In this way, you will get your drive tested with its write and read speed.

8. NovaBench

If you are not satisfied with the previously mentioned software, then NovaBench is completely suited for checking the speed of the hard drive. It is featured with 3D graphics which gives the interface an effective look. This software has hi-tech tools to calculate the floating point value of the speed of the CPU. You can select any hard drive and get its performance and speed tested with this software.

Compatibility: Mac

Steps to use it:

1. Download and install the NovaBench all on your system.
2. Now, run the program.
3. Before you get started with this software, make sure to close other running programs on the system.
4. Now, go to Tests> Run All Tests.

In this way, you will get all the information about the hard drives on your computer screen.

9. Parkdale

Here comes another hard disk speed tester for you Mac PC i.e., Parkdale. This software comes in three different modes for calculating the status of the hard drive. Moreover, the transfer speed of the drive can also be calculated in kbps or Mbps using it. You can measure the speed of any hard drive, CD ROM devices and network servers.

Compatibility: Mac, Windows

Steps to use it:

1. Run the program on your mac and select the drive to be tested. Now, select the mode in which you want to run the test.
2. Select the “Start” button to run the process.

Also Read: How to remove write protection from memory card

10. Geekbench

Ssd Vs Hdd Speed Comparison

Geekbench is a universal speed teaser of hard drives which can be used to calculate the speed and performance. It checks all types of status of the hard drive using you can which you can check the workability of your computer including all the management and applications. You can get 32-bit mode using its free trial. For 64-bit mode, you need to buy it from the website of the software.

Compatibility: Windows, Linux, iOS and Android

Steps to use it:

1. You need to download and install the application on your Mac.
2. For better optimization, close all the applications and windows on your computer.
3. Now, run the program to get started.
4. Click on “Run Benchmarks” to start the process of testing.

In this way, you will see all the results on your screen.

How to Check SSD Read and Write Speeds on Windows 10

Tips:

Gihosoft RePicvid Free Photo Recovery Software provides a free photo recovery software for windows to help users recover the deleted or lost photo for free.

In this article, you have gone through all the features and ways to use different hard drives for Windows and Mac PC. You can use them to check the complete performance of the system using them. If you have any queries, then put it down in the comments section.

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