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How to Test Hard Drive Speed Like an Expert? Beginners' Guide
Testing HDD speed is essential for keeping the system healthy
5 min. read
Updated onJanuary 5, 2024
updated onJanuary 5, 2024
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Key notes
Testing the hard drive speed is essential to detect the HDD’s health or determine if everything works fine.
What is the best speed for a hard drive? The best speed for an HDD is 7200 RPM. As you’ve noticed, the HDD speed is measured in RPM – Rotations per minute. A typical 7200 RPM speed translates into an average read/write speed of 80-160MB/s.
Don’t worry! If you don’t know how to test the hard disk speed, this article will clear everything out for you.
How do I test hard drive speed?
1. Test Hard Drive speed using EaseUS Partition Master
As you can see, using EaseUS Partition Master is the easiest way to test the dive speed, and it works on HDD and SSD without exception.
You should know that testing the health and speed of HDD is only one of the features of EaseUS Partition Master. Here are some of its other important features and tools:
We will leave you to discover many other surprises after youget EaseUS Partition Master.
2. Run HDD speed test using Command Prompt
Command Prompt and the WinSAT command provide a very accurate speed test reading and you can use it without the-ranparameter to get even more information.
However, the command line interface is not very friendly and can even be confusing for someone who didn’t use it before.
3. Run an HDD read/write speed test using Task Manager
Testing the HDD speed in Task Manager is almost instant, but the readings are not always so accurate. However, it’s a great way to get some quick readings.
4. Confront the data with the manufacturer’s specifications
We have explained above how to test the speed of the HDD but those are just numbers if you don’t actually know what they should be.
So, you should actually look at the HDD, take down its brand and serial number, and visit the manufacturer’s website to look for the actual specifications of the drive.
If you can’t access the data visually, Seagate has a small tool calledDriveDetectthat you can run to find out the data you need.
To sum up our guide, it’s very important to keep an eye on the speed and health of your PC’s hard disk. This way, you will find out if the HDD is about to fail and save your data before it’s too late.
FAQ on how to test the hard drive speed
- What is the best hard drive speed test software?
From our latest tests in the WR labs, we recommend using EaseUS Partition Master for the quickest and most accurate results. However, we have a list of thebest HDD benchmarking toolsif you need more suggestions.
- How to test hard drive speed on Mac?
Most users point out that you can test the HDD speed on Mac using the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test or AmorphousDiskMark apps you can find in the Apple AppStore.
- Can I run an HDD speed test online?
No, you can’t run an HDD speed test online because a website can’t accurately access your hard drive and measure its parameters.
Here we conclude our guide on test hard drive speed and how to use local and third-party tools for an accurate measurement.
More about the topics:hard drive,speedtest
Claudiu Andone
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Oldtimer in the tech and science press, Claudiu is focused on whatever comes new from Microsoft.
His abrupt interest in computers started when he saw the first Home Computer as a kid. However, his passion for Windows and everything related became obvious when he became a sys admin in a computer science high school.
With 14 years of experience in writing about everything there is to know about science and technology, Claudiu also likes rock music, chilling in the garden, and Star Wars. May the force be with you, always!
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Claudiu Andone
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Oldtimer in the tech and science press, with 14 years of experience in writing on everything there is to know about science, technology, and Microsoft
