Benchmark software I tested

I wanted to test my data storage devices in terms of performance and so used three benchmark utilities:

• HD Tune Pro
• Crystal Disk Mark
• BenchMe

With HD Tune Pro I managed to get quite a number of diverse parameters, however, I'm sure that only linear read speed and average disk access time are of interest. Additionally, it was difficult to find such a basic performance parameter as I/O operations per second.

As for CrystalDiskMark, it cannot benchmark a physical storage, but is limited to partitions only. In my opinion this might be a drawback. It gives read/write speed for different number and size of queries. It is also possible to get benchmark both for linear and random read/write speed. This benchmark tool is designed so that user is able to change amount of data which is required to read during tests.

As for another benchmark tool BenchMe, it is a simple to use tool to benchmark storage devices. Unlike CrystalDiskMark, BenchMe handles physical devices, but not volumes. Using this tool one can obtain the following performance characteristics: linear read speed, distribution of disk access time, and a list of device capabilities. IOPS are measured for queue depth 1 and 32.

BenchMe and CrystalDiskMark are free programs, but when it comes to interface and graphical representation of obtained benchmark data, BenchMe has the best of both paid HD Tune Pro and free CrystalDiskMark.