Simple HDD/SSD Benchmarks

Christian Külker

0.1.2

2023-02-28

Introduction

This document introduces some utilities and tests to help understand the performance of hard disk drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), and others.

History

Version Date Notes
0.1.2 2023-02-28 Improve writing
0.1.1 2022-05-24 Add introduction and history
0.1.0 2017-10-25 Initial release

Tools

smartctl
hdparm
bonnie++
gnome-disk-utility
dd
iozone

Hints

Make sure that the device interface (SATA/SAS/mSATA/M.2/NVMe) of the host system is the best that the disk can support. See smartctl for more information: SATA version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (2017: 3.0 Gb/s)

Gnome Disk Utility

aptitude install gnome-disk-utility
/usr/bin/gnome-disks

  1. Select the disk, press the “cog” button, select SMART Data and Self-Tests “Start Self-Test”: short, long and conveyance.

  2. Select disk, press “cog” button, select Benchmark

   Transfer Rate:
       Number of Samples: 100
       Sample Size: 10 MiB (10,485,760 bytes)
    Access Time:
       Number of Samples: 1000

Make screenshot

hdparm

for i in {1..10}; do hdparm -t /dev/sdb > hdparm-t-$i.log;done
for i in {1..10}; do hdparm -t /dev/sdb > hdparm-T-$i.log;done

Use a spreadsheet and psppire to analyze.

smartctl

smartctl -a /dev/sdb > smartctl-a.log
smartctl -i /dev/sdb > smartctl-i.log
smartctl -x /dev/sdb > smartctl-x.log

Further Reading

smartctl

  • Simple HDD/SSD Benchmarks