How to use CrystalDiskMark

When you need to test hard drives or other storage drives to determine the exact read and write speeds, special utilities such as CrystalDiskMark come to the rescue. 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 actual read and write speeds. But besides this, if you decide to overclock your device, 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. Launch 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, which are available in almost any program. Here, if necessary, you can change the program language (by default, the utility was immediately launched in Russian).
     
     
   • Setting up verification. Here you set the parameters immediately before starting the scan. For example, here you can specify specifically for which device the scan will be performed, as well as how many scan cycles will be performed.
     
     
   • Start the scan. Buttons that are responsible for starting disk speed scanning.
     
     
   • Display results. Here you will see the read and write speed settings of your drive.
     
   
   
   
   
   
   So, having roughly understood the visual component of the program, you can move on to working with it.
   
   
3. First of all, you will need to select the number of checks that will be performed on the storage device. As it becomes immediately clear, the higher the number of checks, the more accurate the reading and writing 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 larger the file size, the more accurate the result will be. In addition, the scanning time will increase significantly if you select a large file, so be sure to take this point into account.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Now you should select the 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 explorer that appears, mark the drive you need.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Now we come directly to running the test. The program provides four different testing modes:
   
   
   • SeqQ32T1 – reading and writing in sequential mode with a queue depth of 32 per thread;
     
     
   • 4K Q32T1 – random reading and writing with 4Kb blocks with a queue depth of 32 per thread;
     
     
   • Seq – reading and writing in sequential mode with a depth of 1;
     
     
   • 4K – random read and write with 4Kb blocks with a depth of 1.
     
     
   • All – a button that launches all testing 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 first 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 launched all verification modes by pressing the button "All". You can see the status of the utility's scan progress in the program header. Unfortunately, the utility does not provide a full scale of the progress of the process.
   
   
   
   
   
8. When the utility completes the check, you will be able to see the values ​​identified by the program by reading and writing.
   
   
   
   
   
9. To export the results, click on the button in the upper left corner "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 allow you to export the results to a text TXT file.
   
   
   
   

In the dry residue

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

Download CrystalDiskMark for free

Download the latest version of the program from the official website http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html