Ssd benchmark tests software#
Ssd benchmark tests free#

This process has to be repeated until performance results get into stable state where the following repetitions of the test don’t fluctuate too much. It is required to measure the performance of the SSD each time and observe how it changes. This process is the most time-consuming because it requires to apply workload to the device several times. Preconditioning is a process of applying workload to an SSD in order to move it from the initial fresh-out-of-the-box state to a state where the real performance of device is. When the SSD is purged, it is necessary to run preconditioning before running actual tests.

Ssd benchmark tests software#

In order to purge the SSD, we can use software that will send special commands to the device such as: ATA SECURITY ERASE (for example by using hdparm on Linux), SCSI FORMAT UNIT, or use some vendor-specific tools and software. The purge step may be skipped when the first test is performed on a brand new device that hasn’t been used before. Purge and preconditioningīefore a particular performance test is done, the SSD has to be purged which means that it needs to be put into a state that is as close as possible to its state when it was fresh out of the box. All of those stages have to be performed for each separate test in order to make it reliable and comparable. What I would like to describe here are the stages that an SSD drive has to get through during any performance test.

I won’t repeatall of the test specifications here, not only because they would be way too long for a single article but it might also look a bit complicated (it actually isn’t that complicated, so I encourage you to take a look there, too). This specification is referred to in many test results, including those performed by leading technology magazines such as Tom’s Hardware.

There are step-by-step descriptions for tests such as random read and write, sequential read and write and more. This specification describes how particular performance tests of SSDs have to be performed in order to produce reliable results. One of them is the Solid State Storage (SSS) Performance Test Specification (PTS). The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is an organization that develops various standards for the storage industry. Because of that, it is important to perform tests of different devices applying same workload to those SSDs. In that case, all differences in write history may produce different test results. It also means that it isn’t sufficient to simply write some data to the SSD and then perform tests because we never know the internal state of the flash memory, and also how the whole device will behave. This makes it hard to say how a particular product will behave without detailed tests. Moreover, the exact garbage collection algorithms and SSD controller management of flash memory is known only to the manufacturers. If tests are performed on a device that is brand-new (fresh from the box – with all pages clear), performance results will be much better.

Ssd benchmark tests free#

When an SSD has some free pages, it can operate faster because it doesn’t have to perform the garbage collection.

Basics of SSD Performance Tests : Garbage collectionĪs I explained in the previous articles of this series, SSDs will show different performance levels, depending on the write history.

Basics of SSD Performance Tests : Recap on flash memory.

In case you somehow missed the previous parts, you can catch up here: Talking about numbers – read the third part of our SSD series! In this article we’re raising the issue of testing the performance, what does it mean to purge the SSD and why it is necessary to run preconditioning, as well as what follows the preconditioning. Make your SSD Performance tests easy as one-two-three. Basics of SSD Performance Tests : Test, filter, precondition