Crystaldiskmark what the results mean. Applications and tests used. Analysis of the speed of HDD, SSD and other media using CrystalDiskMark

In the last article on the site, we considered 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 the performance of hard drives.

1. About CrystalDiskMark

Windows program CrystalDiskMark knows how 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 similar programs, CrystalDiskMark allows you to determine the read and write speed on individual disk partitions.

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

You can download CrystalDiskMark on the developer's website. The program is presented in a regular version, which requires installation, and a portable version. CrystalDiskMark Shizuku Editions are Japanese anime-style versions of the program.

If CrystalDiskMark is selected in the usual version, which requires installation, you must carefully monitor the installation process so that you do not install unnecessary software in the system along the way.

2. Testing hard drives

After starting the program, we will see its small window in the form of a table of values. The extreme cell of the line at the top provides for the selection of a specific disk partition or connected device (flash drive, USB-HDD, USB-SSD).

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

In order not to expose the SSD drive to wear and tear, in the case of testing it, it is recommended to reduce the number of cycles to 3 for a file size of 100 MB.

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

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

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

Of all these individual tests, by and large, only “ Seq". It is the sequential measurement of reading and writing data that is considered an indicative parameter, since it is its values \u200b\u200bthat manufacturers indicate in the characteristics of information carriers. And if the purpose of measuring the performance of a new hard disk or flash drive is to check the manufacturer or seller, whether he has lied, promising better performance, you can only run testing " Seq».

After a short test in the CrystalDiskMark table, we will see the average speed of the hard disk - in the cells of the column “ Read"Speed \u200b\u200bof data reading, and in the column cells" Write", Respectively, the speed of their recording.

3. Other functionality of the program

CrystalDiskMark allows you to copy test results to text format. The test data saved in a text file can be further used for analysis and comparison.

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

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Hello everyone. Today we will talk about such a wonderful program as CrystalDiskMark, I will tell you what this program is and you can understand whether you need it or not. I will also show you how to install this program and how to remove it. So CrystalDiskMark is just a super-duper program, because it is simple, free and very useful, and you know why? Because CrystalDiskMark allows you to clearly measure the speed of your hard drive, well, or SSD-drive, it depends on what you have.

CrystalDiskMark checks not only the usual speed, that is, the speed with which you can write or read a file, but also checks the speed with which the programs are launched. What do I mean? Oh, guys, there is such a thing, you can call it a delusion, in short, the whole point is that many users confuse linear speed and the speed of working with small files. The linear speed of a hard drive and an SSD can be almost the same, but you shouldn't pay much attention to it, that's the catch! Well, I'll write more about it

Well guys, let's start getting acquainted with this CrystalDiskMark program? So, the first thing you need to do is download it. Well, maybe you already have it, but just in case, I'll still write that you can download it from this site, this is the official site, here it is:

There are two programs on the site, these are CrystalDiskInfo and CrystalDiskMark, you understand that you need to download the second one, for this you need in the CrystalDiskMark section, then there is something like the Standard Edition, and click there opposite on the size of the program, in the Installer column, here on In the picture, I indicated with an arrow where to click:

That's it, then you will have such a window, this is such Windows security, by the way, you may not have this window, it may be disabled. Well, so, I clicked Start here:

In the next window, you accept the agreement, select I accept the agreement there and click the Next button:

In the next window, it will be written where exactly the program will be installed, without the need, I do not advise changing the installation folder. In general, click the Next button here:

Then we will be told that a folder will be created in the Start menu, here it is better not to touch anything, just click Next:

Then, in the next window, there will be a checkbox Create a desktop shortcut, this checkbox is needed in order to create a shortcut on the desktop, I do not advise you to remove it, click Next here too:

That's it, now it will tell you where the program will be installed, which folder will be in the Start menu, it also says that shortcuts will be created .. In short, it remains only to click on Install:

The program will install very quickly, then you click the Finish button there, and if the Launch checkbox was not removed, then the CrystalDiskMark program will start itself. Well, now it started up for me, this is how it looks, see:

So what does all this mean in CrystalDiskMark? Here are all sorts of nishtyaki for testing a hard drive or SSD. So look, you see the All button, well, this button is needed in order to run all the tests at once, in principle, they need to be run all together. Then there is a drop-down menu, I have the number 5 there, well, this is how many times each test will be repeated, so that the results are more accurate, so to speak. You see then there is a menu, where I indicated 1GiB, well, this is the size of the recorded file in the test. In the last menu, you can select a drive, or you can even select a folder (and I did not know such a trick):

In principle, nothing needs to be changed here, well, that is, the size of the file there, the number of repetitions of the test, all this is as it is, it is better to let it remain so.

Guys, honestly, I won't lie, I don't know exactly what each test means. But I know exactly what you need to pay attention to, believe me that I know exactly what is important!

I ran the test, it is still running, I will tell you something. So the most important mistake is that many users look at the first test and think that this is speed. Because of this test, many even compared the hard drive and SSD and said that they did not differ much in speed, so it basically is, especially when SSD drives just appeared, they were only slightly faster than hard drives, well, look at this. first test. Well, what about today? Let's take a WD Black hard drive, its speed in the first test will be about 150 mb / s, while an SSD will have about 400-500 mb / s there, I mean Read. Well, can we conclude that an SSD is three times faster than a hard drive? No guys, this is absolute nonsense!

By the way, my test has already come to an end, this is my picture:

In general, the speeds are of course decent, but in fact I have a hard drive, I just still have a small cache for the hard drive, the cache itself is from RAM, that's why such speeds .. But in fact, the hard drive works faster with this cache anyway. Okay, that's not the point. I wrote that I know what you need to pay attention to, but guys, I know and this is for sure, so the most important thing is the first test and the third. The first test, guys, is SEQUENTIAL WRITE / READ, that is, if you write a file without stopping in one piece, or read a file. Here hard drives always have a decent speed, well, 150 mb / s can be calm. Some disks even deliver 160-170 MB / s. The third test is working with 4 KB blocks, here any hard disk is slow and not easy, but terribly slow. This is my speed here, some prohibitive, and usually they are not more than 3-4 mb / s. While SSDs can have 20 and 40 MB / s, and even more. That's what the SSD is about, thanks to this speed, programs on the SSD start instantly! And the sequential write or read from an SSD can even be at the level of 100 MB / s, but such an SSD will still be faster than even the fastest hard drive in the world, you know?

My results in CrystalDiskMark are certainly not very adequate, I don't even know why I put this picture, okay. Here's an example of how the speed of a hard drive and SSD differs:

Well, yes, the hard drive here is certainly not the first freshness, but believe me that today the picture is the same, no hard drive, even the coolest and most modern, and it does not come close to SSD. Even if you put hard drives in a RAID0 array, such an array will still be outperformed by any, even the cheapest SSD, do you understand?

Or here's another example, here the speed shows that the SSD model is far from the best, probably the old one, but still, in fact, such an SSD is much faster than a hard drive:

The point is to look at the first test, that is, the linear speed, if this speed does not affect the launch of programs, well, that is, almost does not. This speed works mainly for copying files, and then, exclusively not small, but large. Small files, here is a bunch of small files, all kinds of junk, somewhere around a couple of dozen gigs try to copy and you will understand that it's just a long time .. But on an SSD it is much faster. Well that's the way guys are

Well, is everything more or less clear to you? I really hope that yes, that I wrote everything normally and so to speak in an accessible language. Now I will show you how to remove CrystalDiskMark from your computer completely, well, you never know what happens in life, suddenly you don't like this program .. So for this you hold down the Win + R buttons, the Run window will appear, you write the following command there:

Click OK, after that you will see a window with all the installed programs on your computer, here you need to find something like CrystalDiskMark 5.2.0 (of course you may have another version), then right-click on the program and select Delete:

Then you will have such a message, you click Yes here:

Then there will be another window, here you are asked whether you will delete the settings or not? If you run the CrystalDiskMark program again, it is better to leave the settings. But I will not put the program again, so here I click Yes, that is, let the settings be deleted:

Well, all the guys, then I saw this message, it means that everything went well, this is the message:

That's all the guys. And no, not all, I checked for interest, are there any settings from CrystalDiskMark? Well, it was just interesting ... So I held down the Win + R buttons, wrote the% AppData% command, clicked OK, a folder opened where the programs usually keep their settings. But no guys, there were no settings from CrystalDiskMark, for this I even specially looked in this folder for everything whose name contains the word CrystalDiskMark, but I did not find anything! Well, I have such a joke, as something hits in the head, so I have to do it and that's it, otherwise there is no way

So guys like that. I hope that everything was clear to you here, and if something is wrong, then you will excuse me, as I can, and I am writing .. Good luck in your life and that everything is fine with you, so that all your dreams come true, good luck

31.12.2016

Good day to everyone, dear friends, acquaintances, readers, admirers and other differences.

Often there is a need to find out the speed of a hard drive, since it is, and therefore, with various optimizations and settings, and just after buying the same SSD, many ask how to find out the nimbleness in order to effectively, quickly and for sure.

I once wrote an article about such a wonderful program as, but since it is not at all in a hurry to update (especially in the free version), and in a sense, it does not provide the most detailed information, it was decided to share such a simple, lightweight and convenient program as СrystalDiskMark, and at the same time tell a little about the correct speed measurement in terms of the usefulness of the information obtained during the test.

Let's get started.

Analysis of the speed of HDD, SSD and other media using CrystalDiskMark

You can download the program, for example. At the time of this writing, the latest stable release was CrystalDiskMark(it is on the link), in case you need a more recent version, then you can take it (by the way, there is also another useful software from the author, like CrystalCPUID, etc).

The program is completely free and supports Russian, however, as almost always within the framework of what we are writing about here.

In the program window, you can either immediately click on the button All (will conduct all tests at once with the default settings) and wait, or select the disk you need, file size and other settings.

If you chose the second path, then let's figure out what's what here:

• From top to bottom there are five green buttons, where the first ( All), as mentioned above, launches all types of tests, while clicking on one specific one will launch only one corresponding test;
• Loudspeakers Read and Write, which is to the right of the buttons and initially have zeros, after the test they will show the measured readings ( Read) and record ( Write) from disk;
• Top dropdown bar (where 5, 1Gib, C: \\ etc.) is responsible for additional parameters, each of which is the following (from left to right):
  • Number of checks ( 5 ), - sets the number of repetitions, according to the results of which it displays the average value (i.e. affects the final objectivity of the measurement, but also takes time for testing);
  • File size ( 1 GiB), - sets the size of the file that will be used for reading or writing in tests;
  • Disk ( C: 63% (45 / 72Gib), - allows you to select the disk to be tested (if you have several of them).
• Well, at the very top there is a typical menu, where there are settings, instructions and other basic utilities.

As for the types of tests, apart from All, it turns out the following:

1. Seq Q32T1 - sequential read / write test with depth 32 at 1 flow;
2. 4K Q32T1- test of random read / write blocks of size 4K with depth 32 at 1 flow;
3. Seq - similar to paragraph 1 but depth 1 ;
4. 4K - similar to paragraph 2 but depth 1 .

• Q32T1 - this is the number of threads and the queue depth (may differ), which are set in the settings;
• 4K - the size of the testing unit, may take other values \u200b\u200b(depending on the version of the program, settings, etc.).

As for the settings, they are minimalistic and allow you to set the number of queues and threads, the pause between checks and the type of data used. Well, also the color of the buttons, yes.

For an ordinary user, in most cases, the default settings will be enough, and the number of test runs for measuring the speed of the disk is, in fact, approximately 3-5 .

The tested disk, for the frequency of the experiment, should not be completely filled and the amount of free space, as a percentage, should be at least 15-20% ... In particular, it is recommended to close all more or less active programs at the time of the scan, especially for other disk-loading solutions.

As for the results, then:

First of all, you should be interested in the second and last line, which are responsible for the test results and disk speed in random read / write operations of blocks of size 4K.

The fact is that in everyday use of a computer, it is quite rare when (approximately only in 20% cases) requires the use of sequential read / write processes of large data blocks, and much more often random small (about 80% of all disk activity), so marketers who indicate huge values \u200b\u200bof speed / write, in fact, often lie. Sources of measurements of average statistics and conclusions, - and two (in the second case, a truncated translation).

So it goes.

Afterword

As always, if there are any adequate questions, thoughts, additions and all that stuff, then welcome to the comments to this article.

When you need to test hard drives or other storage devices in order to determine the exact speed of reading and writing, special utilities come to the rescue, such as CrystalDiskMark. Today we will talk about how to use this program.

What is this utility for? First of all, hard drive manufacturers do not always clearly indicate the real read and write speed. But apart from that, if you decide to subject your device to an overclocking procedure, the CrystalDiskMark utility will allow you to visually compare the results before and after.

How to use CrystalDiskMark

1. First of all, if the CrystalDiskMark utility is not installed on your computer, you will need to download it from the link at the end of the article from the developer's official website and install it on your computer.
2. Run CrystalDiskMark. A miniature utility window will appear on the screen, where all the work will take place. Visually, the program window can be divided into 4 blocks:
   • Control Panel. Standard control menu buttons and utility settings that are available in almost any program. Here, if necessary, you can change the program language (by default, the utility was immediately launched with the Russian language).
   • Configuring verification. This is where you set the parameters just before starting the test. For example, here you can specify specifically for which device the check will be performed, as well as how many check cycles will be performed.
   • Running a check. Buttons that are responsible for starting the disk speed scan.
   • Displaying results. Here you will see the read and write speed parameters of your disk.

   

   So, having figured out about the visual component of the program, you can proceed to work with it.

3. First of all, you will need to choose the number of checks that will be performed in relation to the storage device. As it becomes immediately clear, the higher the number of checks, the more accurate the read and write results will be. By default, the program has the most optimal option - 5 checks, but, if necessary, you can set your own number.

   

4. The second point will ask you to set the size for the file that will be written and read. Again, the higher the file size, the more accurate the result will be. In addition, the duration of the scan will increase significantly if you select a large file, so be sure to consider this point.

   

5. Now you should select a disk with which further work will be performed. This can be not only the hard drive installed on your computer, but also any storage device, such as a flash drive or memory card. If your drive does not appear in the list, click the button "Select Folder" and in the displayed explorer, mark the drive you need.

   

6. Now we come directly to the test launch. The program provides four different testing modes:
   • Seq Q32T1 - reading and writing in sequential mode with a queue depth of 32 per thread;
   • 4K Q32T1 - random read and write with 4Kb blocks with 32 queue depth per thread;
   • Seq - reading and writing in sequential mode with a depth equal to 1;
   • 4K - Random read and write with 4Kb blocks with a depth of 1.
   • All - a button that starts all test modes simultaneously.

   In order for the check to be performed, your disk must have at least 15% free space. If this value is less, it is previously recommended to free up the memory on the device (if it comes to small removable drives, it is recommended to completely clear them of data).

7. We started the execution of all verification modes by clicking on the button "All". You can see the status of the check progress by the utility in the program header. Unfortunately, the utility does not provide a full-fledged progress bar.

   

8. When the utility completes the check, you will be able to see the values \u200b\u200bdetected by the program for reading and writing.

   

9. To export the results obtained, click in the upper left corner on the button "File"... Additional items will appear on the screen: "Copy" will place the results on the clipboard so that you can paste them into any program convenient for you, and "Save" will export the results to a text TXT file.

   

In the dry residue

CrystalDiskMark does an excellent job of informing the user about the read and write speed of the disk owner. The program can be safely recommended due to its simplicity and ease of operation, low load on the operating system, the presence of the Russian language, as well as a completely free license.

CrystalDiskMark program is designed to determine the average read and write speed of various information carriers: external and internal hard drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), USB flash cards. A distinctive feature of the program is the ability to measure speed on separate sections of one physical medium.

Downloading the program

You can download the program for free on the official website of the developer.

Several versions of the program are available for download: regular (in the form of an exe-installer and zip archive) and Shizuku Edition (with a background in the style of Japanese animation). You can also download the source code of the program. You can choose between versions for 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

Installation

If you download the program as a zip archive, you just need to unpack its contents to any folder on your computer and run the executable file ( DiskMark32.exe or DiskMark64.exe depending on the bitness of the operating system). When choosing the exe-installer, you should run the downloaded file and follow the instructions of the installer.

Working with the program

After starting the program, a small window will appear containing five green buttons and a table of speed values.

The first line on the left is the number of read and write cycles of the reference file; the second line is its size. By default, the program has 5 cycles with a file size of 1 Gb, which is quite optimal for testing HDD disks. However, SSDs are highly susceptible to wear and tear based on read / write cycles, so it is best to reduce the number for testing. The optimal value is 3 cycles with a 100 megabyte file.

By clicking on the upper right line, you can see a drop-down list with a selection of disk partitions and other connected drives. You can also select a specific folder.

After setting the desired parameters, you can start testing by pressing the first green button "All"... The process of reading-writing and measuring the speed will begin, which can be canceled with the appeared button "Stop"... The process takes some time, so you need to wait. At the end of the measurements in the columns "Read" and "Write" read and write results appear, respectively.

Button press "All" runs all read and write tests provided by the program, but you can also run them individually.

• "Seq" - sequential testing of data reading and writing;
• "512K" - measurement of the speed of random reading and writing of 512 kilobyte blocks;
• "4K" - measurement of the speed of random reading and writing of 4 kilobyte blocks with a queue depth of 1;
• "4K QD32" - measurement of the speed of random reading and writing of 4 kilobyte blocks with a queue depth of 32.

Of all the results obtained, in fact, it is worth paying attention only to the lines "Seq" and "4K"... The first is the value of the sequential measurement speed of reading and writing data, and it is this value that is indicated by manufacturers in the characteristics of drives. Therefore, only the results of this test are sufficient to check whether the actual speeds correspond to the declared ones. However, in everyday use of a PC, sequential processes of reading / writing large blocks of data very rarely occur, but random small ones - much more often. Therefore, for a rough estimate of the real speed of the disk, it would not hurt to look at the line "4K".

In addition to measuring and displaying results visually, CrystalDiskMark has the function of saving test results to a text file. When you press "File - Copy" (or hotkeys Ctrl + C) the program will copy the test results in text format to the clipboard, from where they can then be pasted into any text editor.

The program supports many languages \u200b\u200b(including Russian), as well as different color themes and window sizes.

CrystalDiskMark is a convenient and, most importantly, free program, which is useful both for ordinary PC users who want to evaluate the speed of their media, and for people involved in overclocking and computer optimization. The utility is easy to use, has an intuitive interface and, in the case of using the portable version, does not require installation and can be launched even from external media, for example, USB devices.