Hard Drive Read Write Speed Test with Best Disk Speed Tester

What is a good read write speed for a hard drive?

Generally speaking, a standard HDD will deliver a read/write speed of 80MB/s - 160MB/s while a typical SSD will read and write at between 200MB/s to 550MB/s. Apart from a good CPU and memory chip, a good read write speed hard drive also plays an important role in boosting the overall performance of a computer. It means you can store and open the target files at a faster speed.

If you find your PC is slow all of a sudden, you can perform a hard drive read write speed test to see whether you need to optimize it or replace it with a new one. This is also a good idea to detect and measure the normal function of your hard drive.

How do I check my hard drive read and write speed?

Here, we'll show you how to carry out the hard drive read and write speed test on a Windows computer. Two Windows built-in tools and a third-party hard drive tester are included.

Note that both Method 1 and Method 2 only show a rough result of read/write speed. If you want to master all conditions of your disk, please jump to Method 3 directly. If you don't mind this, start to check the detailed steps below.

▶ Method 1. Test hard drive read write speed via Windows Task Manager

Task Manager, an operating system component in all versions of Windows, lets you view and operate each of the tasks that are processed on a computer including checking the speed of drives.

Reviews of hard drive read write speed test with Task Manager:
✔ It's easy to use and suitable for all Windows users.
✘ The result is dynamic, changing as the running programs in the background. So, it is hard to know the real and specific speed of your disks.

Step 1. Enter "Task Manager" in the search bar, click it to open Task Manager, and navigate to the "Performance" tab.

Step 2. Select the target disk to test from the list in the left column. Then you can see some basic information about the selected drive, including the present read and write speed.

▶ Method 2. Test hard drive read write speed via Windows CMD

If you are an advanced computer user, you can run Command Prompt to have a disk speed test. Refer to the following steps to get it done.

Reviews of hard drive read write speed test with Command Prompt:
✔ The result is static and is friendly to experienced users.
✘ You cannot choose the drive as you need. (If you have more than one drive, the result can be complex.)
✘ You are likely to type the wrong command lines, which may cause disk crashes.

Step 1. Type "cmd" in the search bar and select "Run as Administrator" to open Command Prompt.

Step 2. Type "winsat disk", hit "Enter", and wait for the command to operate. Then, the random and sequential write/speed will be displayed directly.

▶ Method 3. Test hard drive read write speed via a third-party disk speed tester

This method is designed for those who want to have a comprehensive hard drive read and write speed test and get a clear testing result. AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is such a reliable disk speed test tool that can satisfy your need.

Reviews of hard drive read write speed test with AOMEI Partition Assistant:
✔ It's super easy and compatible with all editions of Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista.
✔ You can choose any disk you want to test, including internal or external hard drives, SSD or HDD, USB drives or SD cards, etc.
✔ It has two testing modes. It's up to you to have a simple test or perform an all-around test.
✔ The result is static and can be exported in different forms like clipboard, text, or screenshot so that you can analyze and measure the status of your hard drive precisely.
✘ You need to download it from the website before following the simple operations.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click "Test" and select "Disk Speed Test".

Step 2. The Simple Mode is selected by default, you can click "Start" to begin testing.

Step 3. Or you can click "Pro Mode" to test hard drive in a comprehensive way.

Step 4. In the new window, you can change the default settings as your wish: to-be-tested Partition, Average/Maximum speed, Size, Test Number, and Duration. After everything is set, click "Start" to begin to test the hard drive read and write speed.

Step 5. When the test is done, you can see the result directly on the interface, and also you can choose to export the result to analyze later.

A small summary: The three methods displayed above have their respective merits and demerits, you can choose any one of them based on your needs.

How to increase hard drive read write speed in Windows computer?

Does your disk meet the basic line of a good read write speed hard drive? If not, you can try the following ways to speed up your Windows computer. AOMEI Partition Assistant is also a disk optimizer that offers many other features to realize hard drive optimization.

▌ 1. Delete unnecessary files

Since a slow hard drive is caused by holding numerous files on it, you can move files or folders to a different drive, or delete some unnecessary files, especially those with large files but hardly used. Check how to scan and delete large files on your hard drive with AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

Step 1. On the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant, click "Free up" and select "Delete Large Files".

Step 2. After selecting the partitions that you want to find and delete large files from, click "Start Scan".

Step 3. Then, it will list all large files when the scan is complete. Tick the files you want to delete, and then click "Delete" > "Delete Now" to confirm the deletion operation.

▌ 2. Defragment disk

A number of fragmented files is a major factor slowing down hard drive write and read speed. Performing disk defrag can pull the scattered pieces of a file together, which can shorten the access time to data on a disk.

Step 1. Right-click the target disk and select "Disk Defrag".

Step 2. Tick the drive you want to defragment, click "Analyze" to see whether it needs defragging or directly click the "Defrag" button to start the defragmentation. Besides, you can choose "Schedule" to set the time for regular disk defrag.

Note: This function only supports NTFS partitions, so it will only list the available BTFS partitions on your hard drive. You can convert FAT32 to NTFS file system in advance to meet the requirements.

▌ 3. Extend C drive

You can also enlarge the system partition to optimize the computer performance. AOMEI Partition Assistant can give you an effective helping hand in this aspect. You can directly use the free space of a partition to extend the C partition size.

Step 1. Open AOMEI software. Right-click the drive with enough space and choose "Allocate Free Space".

Step 2. Choose the size you want to add to C drive and select the C drive from the list. Then, click "Apply" > "Proceed" to commit the operation.

Conclusion

A good read write speed hard drive can improve your work efficiency. This passage mainly introduces three workable ways to perform hard drive read write speed test as well as lists some top methods to speed up a slow hard drive.

If you want to take some preventive measures to protect your hard drive, AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you check the disk health, back up important data to external hard drives by disk cloning, etc. Besides, it can assist you to solve some unexpected problems like recovering lost/deleted partition with data back together if you delete it accidentally.