When you are building a PC, the things that first came into consideration is the CPU, RAM, and GPU. These three components are the deciding factor of the PC’s performance. But there’s another component that is just important, storage. This component’s main task is to store all of the user’s data from the operating system (OS), apps, games, and others.

There are two kinds of storage, HDD and SSD. HDD or hard disk drive is storage that uses a magnetic disc. While an SSD is more similar to a USB Flash Drive, it doesn’t have a moving component inside it. The data is stored in microchips.

The most noticeable difference between an HDD and an SSD is the transfer speed. As a new tech, SSD has a faster transfer speed. Because of that, SSDs are more expensive than HDDs.

Still, testing the performance of HDD or SSD becomes a crucial part to know whether the storage performed as advertised or not. By testing, you can also diagnose any issue that might interrupt your storage’s performance.

To help you test the performance of your HDD and SSD, here are the five free benchmark apps that you can use.

1. ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO Disk Benchmark is one of the oldest and most popular HDD and SSD benchmark apps. This benchmark app allows the user to see the read and write capability of their storage using a predetermined block size between 512 byte to 8MB with test files between 64KB and 2GB and queue depth between 2 and 10, so it provides complete information.

By enabling Direct I/O and Overlapped I/O, ATTO Disk Benchmark will also remove all performance benefits from the system cache, providing the most accurate results. ATTO Disk Benchmark is usually the benchmark for SSD manufacturers because the tests use simple and compressible data and tend to produce the best performance.

>> Download ATTO Disk Benchmark free

2. Crystal Disk Mark

Next is Crystal Disk Mark. This benchmark application allows users to find out how fast the read/write of the storage is used sequentially as well as the random read/write speed. Interestingly, the Crystal Disk Mark application is not only used to test main storage, but can also be used on several other storage media, such as USB Flash Drives, memory cards, and so on.

>> Download Crystal Disk Mark free

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3. AS SSD

AS SSD is a benchmark application that is quite commonly used by PC users to measure the performance of HDDs and SSDs, ranging from sequential, 4K, 4K QD64, and latency. The test was carried out using 100% uncompressed data. This benchmark application also issues a score that provides information on the overall performance of the storage used.

>> Download AS SSD free

4. Anvil Storage Utilities

Anvil Storage Utilities is also one of the most widely used benchmark applications for testing the performance of HDDs and SSDs. This benchmark application is also very easy to use. Once open, users only need to click the "Run" button, then the application will automatically run read/write tests starting from Sequential, 4K, 4K QD4, 4KQD16, 32K, and 128K. After testing is complete, users can see a number of different results, such as response time, read/write performance in MB/s and IOPS. 

>> Download Anvil Storage Utilities free

5. Iometer

Iometer was originally a benchmark application developed by Intel and announced at the Intel Developer Forum in 1998. From there, Iometer has become one of the most popular HDD and SSD benchmark applications in the industry. Even though the interface of this benchmark application looks outdated, this application has pretty good testing capabilities. This application has several test configurations and can provide in-depth information.

>> Download Iometer free

That’s the list of HDD and SSD benchmark apps that you can use for free. Stay tuned for more information about games and don’t forget to follow Dunia Games on Facebook and Instagram. 

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Also Read >> How to Assemble a Gaming PC that is Good and Right for Beginners

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