In this article, we’ll talk about simple ways to test your SSD for speed and determine if its performance is optimal.
Please note: By using methods described in this article, you can check not only the internal SSD, but the connected external SSD as well.
SSD preliminary check
If the SSD has just been installed in the computer, it is recommended to perform a preliminary test before actually testing it for speed. This will allow you to have full information on the state of your particular SSD. For example, this can be useful if you are not sure that the drive is new.
To perform a preliminary SSD check, download the CrystalDiskInfo program from the Internet, install it and run it.
Please note: It does not matter to which drive the program will be installed – the SSD that is being tested or another drive in your PC.
Open the tested drive by clicking on “Disk”.
CrystalDiskInfo provides basic information about the installed SSD. Among the most important parameters you will find:
- Health Status. Indicated as a percentage of 100%. According to CrystalDiskInfo the new drive should have a health status from 99 to 100 percent. If the result is less than that, you should probably contact the seller or manufacturer. It also is possible that the program does not work correctly while testing your particular disk.
- Power On Count. This column displays information about the number of times the SSD was turned on.
- Power On Hours. Shows for how long this SSD has been running in total.
- The normal operating temperature of an SSD drive is 35-40 degrees Celsius.
Some useful information about the drive can be found in the lower attribute table.
SSD speed check
If the state of your drive is satisfactory, you can proceed to testing its speed. The SSD speed test can be performed by various applications. In this article we will consider the CrystalDiskMark program.
You can download the CrystalDiskMark from the developer’s website.
Select your particular SSD in question from the available drives.
The next step is to set two testing parameters. The first parameter is the number of checks to be performed (usually set to “5” to test the standard SSD of the average user’s computer), the second parameter is the size of the file that will be read and written during testing. We recommend setting the file size to 128 MiB.
Please note: The higher is the number of checks you are setting, and the larger is the file you select for the checks, the longer this check will take.
Before proceeding directly to the beginning of testing, you need to close all applications that actively interact with the drive. This is especially true for torrent clients. It is also necessary to pause the download of all files to the tested drive (from the browser, from other disks, and so on). If the tested drive is a system disk, then during testing it is better not to interact with PC at all.
Important note: It is not recommended to test an SSD that has less than 50GB of free space. If the total volume of the drive is small, there should be at least 50% of free memory.
The CrystalDiskMark application is testing the drive in 4 ways. If you click on the All button, a test will be performed for all available options. To learn more about the tests offered specifically for your drive, hover the mouse over them and look at the following parameters:
- Sequential (Seq). Sequential testing (read / write).
- Random (RND). Random testing.
- Queues.
- Threads.
Click All to test all available options.
Test results are displayed for each option for writing (Write) and reading (Read). For the average PC the main indicators are random testing for reading and writing. It is these indicators that should be compared with those declared by the manufacturer.
Please note: Often, the manufacturer’s declared values are overestimated.