How to find the read/write speed of an SSD on Windows 10
A while back we showed you how you can check the health of an SSD on Windows 10. This is necessary because an eventual death is something we all accept when we decide to get an SSD for its speed. When we say SSDs are faster, it’s because they have better read/write speeds compared to an HDD. When you write data to an SSD or when you read data (access a file), your OS can find and show it much faster compared to an HDD. If you need to find the read/write speed of an SSD, you can do so with the task manager, or with third party apps.
Read/write speed of SSD
On Windows 10, the Task Manager can give you a snapshot of the current read/write speed for your disk. It works regardless if you’re using an SSD or an HDD.
To use the Task Manager to find the read/write speed of an SSD, you need to first find a large file, preferably 1GB. You will have to copy the file from one location to the other on your SSD. Go ahead and start the copy.
While the file is still copying, open the Task Manager and go to the Performance tab. Select Disk from the column on the left and look under the performance graphs for Read and Write speeds.
The speed that Task Manager reports is a rough estimate. It’s a snapshot which means that it’s giving you the speed for a given time and speeds may vary depending on what you’re doing on your system i.e., what apps you have open.
For a more accurate test, use an app called AS SSD Benchmark. It’s a free app that can give you a more accurate reading of your SSD’s speed. Download and run it. The default 1GB test will do the trick. It will take a while to complete. Click the Start button at the bottom and allow the app to finish all four tests that it runs.
The Seq test is what you want to look at for your SSD’s read/write speeds. The other tests are random 4K block tests, test for speed when disk activity is distributed across 64 threads, and for access time. Using these four tests, the app gives you a score for how fast your SSD is. Since the app doesn’t provide benchmarks and because the score can differ based on the brand and age of the SSD, you want to take it with a grain of salt.
We’re not saying the score is meaningless but it doesn’t determine everything about your SSD. Use this tool with other tools that can gouge the health of your SSD.
any other dedicated tool, recommended.