home-Wifi-HDD speed testing. Checking the speed of the hard drive

HDD speed testing. Checking the speed of the hard drive

In the last article on the site, we looked at a utility that informs about all the data on a computer’s hard drive. In this article we will get acquainted with a related utility (the programs have the same developer) - CrystalDiskMark. It is designed to measure performance hard drives.

1. About CrystalDiskMark

Program for Windows CrystalDiskMark is able to measure the average speed of reading and writing data from conventional hard drives with magnetic platters, both external and connected via USB, SSD drives and flash drives. Unlike many analogue programs, CrystalDiskMark allows you to determine the read and write speed of individual disk partitions.

CrystalDiskMark is a free, multilingual program that has no functionality other than testing the performance of hard drives.

You can download CrystalDiskMark on the developer’s website. The program is presented in regular version, requiring installation, and a portable version. CrystalDiskMark Shizuku Editions are versions with a program background in the style of Japanese anime.

If CrystalDiskMark is selected in the normal version, which requires installation, you must carefully monitor the installation process so as not to install unnecessary software into the system along the way.

2. Testing hard drives

After launching the program, we will see a small window in the form of a table of values. The last cell of the row at the top allows you to select a specific disk partition or connected device (flash drive, USB-HDD, USB-SSD).

The cells to the left are cycles of reading and writing a reference file with a certain size, which the program will temporarily place on the disk partition or device being tested. The number of cycles of 5 with a file size of 1000 MB, set in the program by default, can be left for regular HDD hard drives.

To avoid unnecessary wear and tear on the SSD drive, when testing it, it is recommended to reduce the number of cycles to 3 with a file size of 100 MB.

Select the disk partition to be tested or a connected USB device and start the process of measuring the speed of reading and writing data with the “ All».

« All" - as we can see from the name, this is the launch of all the data reading and writing tests presented below. They can also be launched individually with the corresponding button:

  • « Seq» - testing of sequential data reading and writing starts;
  • « 512K» - testing of random reading and writing of blocks, the size of which is 512 KB, starts;
  • « 4K» - testing of random reading and writing of blocks, the size of which is 4 KB with a queue depth of 1, is started;
  • « 4K QD32"- starts testing random reading and writing of blocks, the size of which is 4 KB with a queue depth of 32.

Of all these individual tests, in the grand scheme of things, the only thing that matters is “ Seq" It is the sequential measurement of reading and writing data that is considered an indicative parameter, since it is precisely its values ​​that manufacturers indicate in the characteristics of storage media. And if the purpose of measuring the performance of a new hard drive or flash drive is to check whether the manufacturer or seller lied, promising better speed indicators, you can only run testing " Seq».

After a short test in the CrystalDiskMark table we will see the average speed of the hard drive - in the cells of the column “ Read"data reading speed, and in the cells of the column " Write", respectively, the speed of their recording.

3. Other program functionality

CrystalDiskMark allows you to copy test results into text format. Saved in text file Testing data can be used for analysis and comparison in the future.

The CrystalDiskMark program provides the ability to increase the scale of its window, as well as change the colors of the interface.

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Important for the system. The device helps the device function, stores user data and is a kind of flash drive for the computer. But the hard drive can be very different, so many people want to know how to check the speed hard drive.

Device operation

What is a hard drive needed for, and how does its speed affect performance? The storage device stores data and gives free access to it. The mechanism is built on magnetic recording.

Outwardly it will not be easy to understand how to find out speed hard disk. Under the plastic case there are magnetic disks and a read head. In working condition, it does not touch the plates. The minimum distance between parts ensures the process of reading and writing information due to air flow.

Now HDD is increasingly receiving criticism from users. Especially after the advent of the solid state drive. Thanks to SSD, users learned that the system can have a faster drive that can easily cope with the most resource-intensive tasks.

But so far, solid-state drives are very expensive, so most people use only a combined option or prefer to do without an SSD altogether.

Hard drive specifications

Before you understand how to check the speed of a hard drive, you need to understand what other hard drive parameters there are that would affect the performance of the device.

The railway interface is now universal. SATA III is the most common option for interaction between two devices, in our case a hard drive and a PC. Thanks to the interface, you can connect the hard drive to your computer, and they will interact correctly. Besides SATA, eSATA, SAS, FireWire, etc. are also available.

When choosing a hard drive, the user pays attention to capacity. For many, this is the most important parameter, since you need to calculate how much information can be saved. Now the most optimal is a hard drive with a capacity of 500 GB - 1 TB. This is quite enough to install games, resource-intensive programs and download movies.

The following setting affects performance. Random access time indicates the average time it takes to position the head for reading and writing.

This parameter can have values ​​from 2.5 to 16 ms. The smaller it is, the faster the device will work. For comparison, all SSDs have random access times of less than 1 ms. Hence the lightning-fast loading of the system and resource-intensive programs working with the SSD.

The next setting also affects the overall speed of the hard drive. How to check the number of spindle rotations? Here you can use the information on the Internet or install the appropriate utility.

This indicator provides information about the spindle speed. The characteristic affects access time and average data transfer speed. In this case, it is better to choose a hard drive that has a speed of 7200 rpm. Although a device with a speed of 5400 and 5900 may be suitable for home PCs, you need to be prepared for the fact that system loading and resource-intensive programs will load slowly.

For servers and workstations, hard drives with 10,000 and 15,000 rpm are chosen.

The data transfer speed can also be found out during the hard drive test. This indicator directly affects the performance of the hard drive. The higher the data transfer speed, the faster you can transfer files to the hard drive.

Examination

How to check the speed of your hard drive? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind in this case is special utilities. Thanks to the program, you can find out any parameters of the hard drive, as well as scan the device for errors.

But not only software can help you learn how to check the speed of your hard drive. Thanks to the software components of the computer, it is also possible to analyze the device parameters.

Software components

To check the read and write speed of a hard drive, you need to use a special command. But to do this you need to launch Command Prompt. In “Start” you need to select the “System” section, and then Windows. In the new window you can find “Command Prompt”. Next, right-click (RMB) to start the service as administrator.

You can also use the key combination Win + R, where “Win” is the operating system icon on the keyboard. In the “Run” line, enter the “cmd” command.

To test the hard drive, you must enter the command “winsat disk” without using quotes. The system will collect all data about the device and display it in a dialog box. What should you pay attention to?

Disk Random 16.0 Read, Disk Sequential 64.0 Read and Disk Sequential 64.0 Write. The device performance index will also be indicated, which can also be found in the system properties.

To obtain additional information about the railway, you must, without leaving “ Command line» enter the required commands. For example, to determine the reading speed, enter “-read”, write - “-write” (without quotes).

Programs

But the best way to test a hard drive is with the help of auxiliary programs. For example, CrystalDiskMark is a simple and intuitive software that will help you collect data about your hard drive and solid-state drive. It can be installed on your computer with operating system Windows versions XP and higher. From the official website you can download the utility for free and with a Russian interface.

You can also use the AS SSD Benchmark program. This utility is similar to the previous one and has a similar interface. It quickly collects data about your hard drive or SSD and organizes it into a simple table. Despite the English interface, you can still understand the report and find the necessary data.

Setting up CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD Benchmark

Of course, you can go deeper into this issue and understand the technologies for overclocking a hard drive, but there is a big risk that an inexperienced user can damage the device, which will lead to system failures. Therefore, many suggest regularly performing some operations that will help, albeit slightly, but still speed up the work of the railway.

It is advisable to check the disk regularly. To do this, you need to go to “My Computer”, select one of the sections and right-click on it. Then select “Properties” and go to the “Service” tab. Here you can defragment the disk.

No matter what speed the manufacturer indicates in the characteristics of their SSDs, the user always wants to check everything in practice. But find out how close the drive speed is to the advertised speed without help third party programs impossible. The most that can be done is to compare how quickly files are copied on a solid-state drive with similar results from a magnetic drive. In order to find out real speed, you need to use a special utility.

SSD speed test

As a solution, we will choose a simple program called . It has a Russian interface and is very easy to use. So let's get started.

Immediately after launch, the main window will open in front of us, which contains all the necessary settings and information.

Before starting the test, we will set a couple of parameters: the number of checks and the file size. The accuracy of the measurements will depend on the first parameter. By and large, the five checks that are installed by default are quite enough to obtain correct measurements. But if you want to get more accurate information, you can set the maximum value.

The second parameter is the size of the file that will be read and written during tests. The value of this parameter will also affect both the measurement accuracy and the test execution time. However, in order not to reduce the service life of the SSD, you can set the value of this parameter to 100 Megabytes.

After setting all the parameters, we proceed to selecting a disk. Everything is simple here, open the list and select our solid-state drive.

Now you can proceed directly to testing. CrystalDiskMark offers five tests:

  • Seq Q32T1– testing sequential writing/reading of a file with a depth of 32 per thread;
  • 4K Q32T1– testing random writing/reading of blocks of size 4 Kilobytes with a depth of 32 per thread;
  • Seq– testing sequential write/read with depth 1;
  • 4K– testing random write/read with depth 1.

Each of the tests can be run separately; to do this, just click on the green button of the desired test and wait for the result.

You can also do a full test by clicking on the All button.

In order to get more accurate results, it is necessary to close all (if possible) active programs (especially torrents), and it is also desirable that the disk is no more than half full.

Because in everyday use personal computer Since the random method of reading/writing data is most often used (80%), we will be more interested in the results of the second (4K Q32t1) and fourth (4K) tests.

Now let's analyze the results of our test. An ADATA SP900 disk with a capacity of 128 GB was used as an “experimental” disk. As a result, we got the following:

  • at sequential method the drive reads data at speed 210-219 Mbit/s;
  • recording with the same method is slower - only 118 Mbit/s;
  • reading with a random method with a depth of 1 occurs at speed 20 Mbit/s;
  • recording using a similar method - 50 Mbit/s;
  • read and write with depth 32 - 118 Mbit/s and 99 Mbit/s, respectively.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that reading/writing is performed at high speeds only with files whose volume is equal to the buffer size. Those with larger buffers will be read and copied more slowly.

So, with the help of a small program we can easily estimate the speed of the SSD and compare it with what the manufacturers indicate. By the way, this speed is usually overestimated, and using CrystalDiskMark you can find out exactly how much.

Nowadays, disk subsystems are being modernized at an accelerated pace in almost all hosters. Solid state drives have become a significant breakthrough in improving computer performance, including server equipment. The fact is that the disk has been a bottleneck, what is called the “weak link”, in the performance of any information systems. In other words, all other components - the processor, RAM, system buses and even the network - everything has long been much faster and more productive than drives. SSD gives an increase in the performance of any device by about 3-5 times. This means any applications will launch several times faster, sometimes even tens of times faster.

So, the hoster offers you two tariff lines - SSD and non_SSD. You, of course, take an SSD. But how can you be sure that the hoster really issued the SSD? After all, there is no difference for the operation of the site - everything will work on your hosting with any disk. That is, theoretically, the hoster can tell you that it has servers on fast solid-state drives. But in reality, sell capacity on ordinary traditional HDDs. And you most likely won't even know about it.

After all, SSDs are much more expensive than regular disks. But hosters have serious power, they need to store terabytes of data. Can you imagine how much such systems can cost, considering that 1 GB of a solid-state drive is approximately 10 times more expensive than 1 GB of a regular disk?

What is SSD-boost or flashcache?

In general, there is a hybrid system. When using a combination of SSD + HDD. At the same time, all data is stored on traditional large disks. Eat special software, which configures these disks into a special tricky array, where the SSD acts as a cache for any data that is written or read. In such an array we have a small SSD, say 120 GB, and behind it a large HDD, 2 TB. This combination gives read/write speeds like an SSD, but the volume like an HDD. That's it. At the same time, the hoster can easily tell you that everything is on an SSD. Honest hosters call this SSD-boost. This does not negatively affect the operation of the sites.

I checked the disk speed of dozens of different hosters. You will be surprised, but only 1 out of 5 hosters provides an “honest” SSD.

I record such things with screenshots.

Tests of fake SSDs of some hosters

Hoster No. 1

Here we see only 30 MB/s per write. This normal speed for a regular HDD. But the hoster declares it as an SSD.

Hoster No. 2

A similar picture. But the reading speed is already a little better. Perhaps this is the case with flashcache, but it is very overloaded. But most likely just a raid array of regular HDD. You can assemble them in such a way that the reading performance increases by 1.5-2 times.

Hoster No. 3

A favorite hoster for many. Shows generally wild results. Not only is the HDD, it is also overloaded with disk accesses.

Hoster No. 4

This is actually a funny story. I did a server audit for a client and there were complaints about the brakes. Let me check the disk, I think.

This is the picture. I write to the client this way and that - the hoster is blatantly deceiving you. The client runs to support - it turns out that it really is. The client “forgot” to turn on the SSD when switching from tariff to tariff, do you understand? We switch, test again and see how a real SSD appeared.

Tests of real SSDs

Now, to understand the difference, I will show you screenshots of tests of an actual SSD.

This is what it looks like. The recording speed should be over 100 Mb/s. This is the minimum for an SSD. This is a test from my work laptop, on which I am currently writing this post. It contains the cheapest 120 Gb SSD. As you can see, its operating speed is 4-5 times faster than a traditional disk.

And here is a test of a hoster that provides a real SSD.

This is definitely a real SSD. This is how it should be. Perhaps the boost is configured, but it’s an SSD and you can live with this hoster.

How to do a disk speed test with a hoster?

I use the dd utility for this. It is available in any Linux. But you should handle it carefully, otherwise there is a risk of ruining the entire server and all the data on it. Because this utility writes raw data to any device or file that you specify to it.

So, for a write test, you should take a stream of zeros from the special device /dev/zero and send it to a file on the disk under test. Any arbitrary file. For example, in the temporary files folder /tmp/test.img

Dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/test.img bs=1M count=1024 oflag=dsync

This command will create a 1 GB file and display the write speed.

You can immediately check the reading speed, only here the if option should point to the created file, and the of option should point somewhere into the void. In Linux there is such a device /dev/null , let’s point it to it:

Dd if=/tmp/test.img of=/dev/null bs=1M count=1024

But before that, you need to reset the disk cache, otherwise the file will be read in a second, and you will get the reading speed in Gb/s. This is done with the following command:

Sysctl vm.drop_caches=3

Then we conduct a reading test with the second team.

Well, when finished, you need to delete the test file so that it doesn’t take up space:

Rm -f /tmp/test.img

This will all work only on a dedicated server or VPS. Moreover, not on every VPS. Because they also differ in virtualization technology. Many hosters do not provide full virtualization (KVM, XEN) but containers (openVZ). There is no access to kernel parameters, which means you won’t be able to reset the cache. You will have to read and write in different files, or before the read test, wait several hours until the disk cache is overwritten with other data. It is also quite difficult to check the speed on shared hosting, since you do not have root access there. But the dd utility is usually available to any system user, so you can check it on it too, with SSH access.

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